More than music: Kanye West

Kanye on the cover of Times "100 Most Influential People:
Titans" with his article written by Kanye's close friend, Elon Musk

  Kanye West is not someone who needs an introduction. So many people have heard of him that he made Time’s “100 Most Influential People” list for his music, as well as his many other projects, from fashion design to politics. Kanye has similarly made sure that his creative process is no secret. This is perhaps the biggest plus for studying Kanye’s process, as he has done multiple interviews on that exact thing, at least thirteen interviews in fact. Kanye is far from humble, something that he readily admits, and so he talks quite openly about his process and his ideas. He is incredibly proud of this process and its success, and has even described himself as a “creative genius”. In all of these interviews, however, he comes back to a few key ideas: a love for breaking convention, dreaming as big as possible (while not being afraid of failure at these dreams), and a mission to learn and try as many things as he can.

    Probably Kanye’s favorite thing to do, and a central theme to his creativity, is to think outside of the box. While this is rather cliche, it is not just a side effect of many of Kanye’s projects, but a direct goal of them. He has ventured into just about every creative field that he can and repeatedly comes back to the concept of breaking down barriers and convention. He often does this almost as a challenge to himself, by venturing into fields where he is both the only singer and the only black man. Kanye’s race is very important to him, and, especially in older interviews, he talks about how he has tried to be successful in situations where his race would usually hold him back. He also revels in situations where he is not the master, the most notable of which was fashion. There, he deliberately found a field where he was a complete novice, and the establishment treated him as such, up until the point at which they no longer could. He seemed to particularly enjoy the time he spends on fashion, even going so far as to say that he was “happy” to find that he had “no allies” at the beginning, and either apathy or outright criticism from those already in the field. Regardless of his actual success in fashion, Kanye likes breaking convention here, and in other areas, just because he can and because there is a convention to be broken.

    In all of these disparate fields, he sets almost impossible goals for himself. He sometimes accomplishes these goals and sometimes does not, though he seems to care a great deal which direction that goes. He set out right from the beginning to be the biggest name in music, something that he has arguably accomplished. Even beyond the world of pop culture and fashion, however, his dreams know few bounds. He has often talked about running for president, and has for many years been talking in terms of “when I run for president” rather than “if”. He has gone so far as to announce a campaign for 2024, though not every venture has been as successful as fashion and music. His forays into politics have largely been limited to controversy rather than a political office, as he has angered both the right with his comments about President Bush in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, as well as the left with his support of President Trump. This controversy has had little effect on Kanye, however, again proving how good he is at brushing-off failure. Regardless, Kanye has not given up, and has instead looked into other fields where he has found moderate success, such as filmmaking, where he has made multiple critically-acclaimed short films, or television, where he has joined his wife, Kim Kardashian, on numerous shows.

Kanye on his self-designed "floating stage" which
moved around the arena 15 feet over the audience

    The last thing that Kanye focuses on is something that one does not usually expect out of a rapper: learning. He is good friends with Elon Musk, and Kanye reportedly loves learning about the science behind Musk’s projects such as his rockets or the Hyperloop. In the words of Musk himself: “Kanye does think. Constantly. About everything”. Probably the place that Kanye has spent the most time on, his music, is where Kanye has spent the most time learning. He has spent a substantial amount of time learning enough to go beyond the actual lyrics and songs, to the point that Kanye is, in many ways, his own producer. He does much of his own publicity and is the architect and choreographer of his concerts. This is one place that Kanye stands out, as he is able to combine his songs and on-stage sets in a way that can only happen when the architect and the singer are the same person, with unique results such as his floating stage or his stage that was just a mountain in the middle of the crowd.

(This is just a small smattering of Kanye’s many interviews on creativity)

http://time.com/collection-post/3822841/kanye-west-2015-time-100/

https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/kanye-west-creativity-guide/

https://www.interviewmagazine.com/music/kanye-west

https://hiphopdx.com/news/id.26720/title.kanye-west-describes-creative-process-behind-yeezus-tour#signup

https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/hip-hop/8455473/john-mayer-kanye-west-creativity-comments-interview-beats-1-video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9bjY0Xrt1o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzaKUqLw9Rg