Top 110 Kanye Quotes

I don’t know if he remembers, but the first time I ever met Cudi was the first time I met Kanye. I’ve never told anyone this, but it was the same day. That was the first time I was around G.O.O.D. Music at all. I was sitting like, ‘Man, I’m in the presence of ‘Ye and Cudi. This is the art level where I want to be.’

I love Kanye West. I think he’s a visionary. He’s one of those people for whom I separate his personality from his artistry.

I have a soft spot for him because he’s such a free spirit, and people just beat him up, and he’s just trying to be him, so I do have a little soft spot for Kanye.

I always make fun of Kanye West.

My theory is if Tony Williams can sing, and if Kanye West can sing, so can I! So I try!

I love Kanye for that. Being a producer, making beats, and being a rapper. He does it all.

I’ve always been able to defend Kanye.

I love Kanye.

I’ve got a variety of things I like to listen to. I like R&B. I like Chris Brown. I like Nas. I like Jay Z. Rick Ross. Kanye West. I try to mix it up.

Kanye inspires me through his work ethic and his approach.

I miss Kanye. I miss him around; I miss his brilliant energy. Keeps you really motivated… I love it. I love it! He is always ahead of the times. He is inspiring.

I’m a minimalist, for sure. A couple homies saw Kanye West’s crib with barely anything in it and thought it looked weird. To me, it looks perfect. Clutter gives me anxiety.

I will tell you, I feel very, very bad for Kanye West. He’s not well, and that is the very foundation of everything he says.

Kanye is always going to be Kanye. He is always going to be outspoken. He’s always going to say exactly how he feels.

Whatever Kanye tells me, I just try to put it in my little machine and make the perfect solution for it. That’s always our collab formula, and that’s just how ‘Gorgeous’ came about.

I think that my biggest influences are electronic acts. Daft Punk is probably my number 1, then Kanye West would be number 2 after that.

It’s great to watch people come up and help mold their careers. I really took it literal when Kanye said, ‘Listen to the kids, bruh.’ That really means something.

Kanye on the track and LeBron. That’s fire.

Kanye West does not represent all black people.

Every time I get dressed, I try to channel a little bit of Kanye West and a little bit of Sailor Moon.

I’m really impressed every time Kanye comes to perform at ‘SNL’ because he finds a new way to make that space work for him.

My favorite rappers are, I can’t really say. I like Kanye because he’s so creative. He’ll just do anything. I like what Kanye’s bringing to the game. Lil Wayne. I like Wayne.

I listened to a lot of Jay-Z and Kanye coming up, which would be unexpected for a boy bander like me. But I’d listen to a lot of that, and a lot of Ed Sheeran, actually.

Chicago, we always had it. People just shied away because it’s nothing businesswise from the industry. Everybody from Chi will go to N.Y.C. or L.A. – R. Kelly to Kanye to even Twista. Everybody is great from there, but it’s nothing downtown.

I think it would be different to work with a guy like Kanye West or Jay-Z, those guys are so phenomenal, but just to work with a rapper, I don’t think is really my thing. I really like songs, like true songs. Like indie songs.

When Kanye gets to a point where he can actually put a couple of notes together either vocally or two bars of valid music playing an instrument, then he might have a right to criticize somebody else.

I’ma work with Kanye. I’ma try my damndest.

Kanye West deceives many and will lead many people astray.

People pay attention to artists and celebrities, so they have the opportunity to do something great with this limelight. I, for one, have no problem with Kanye running for president, because if it’s something that he truly believes in and it can lead to greater good, why not? I’m all for that.

In DC, it’s really edgy to listen to Kanye West or Jay-Z, and it’s a thing to know who Azzedine Alaia is – you know what I mean? But I do care about issues, and I was really political in high school, always marching.

To be able to do a song with Kanye West and then a video with Hype Williams who directed the video, that’s a highlight of any artist’s’ career.

I’m a young dude from Chicago who grew up with Kanye as my image of hip-hop. Finding your voice in a room where you have to challenge Kanye is scary – but it’s also life-affirming.

It was probably in third grade – I had a super-fake gold herringbone chain. Yeah man, it was, like, super fake. I don’t remember if it was my mom’s or how I got it, but ever since then, I’ve loved chains. The first real chain I got was from Kanye. It was a Jacob the Jeweler Kanye West Jesus piece.

Being an artist doesn’t just mean you have a song. That doesn’t make you an artist. The word ‘artist’ means so many different things, and I feel like to be a real one, you really have to do it all. The people that I think of as artists – Tyler the Creator, Childish Gambino, Kanye West – are doing the most.

It could be interesting doing something with Kanye.

Anytime you see Beyonce, Jay Z, Kanye West. Anytime a young black person’s doing good, that’s motivation for everybody else. Anytime, anytime, it’s motivation. Use that fuel to push you forward. That’s what I did.

When I was on Arsenio Hall’s show, he asked me about working with Kanye West or John Legend. I said I’d love to.

The work ethic behind everything Kanye does is crazy. It’s greatness. He told me, ‘We’re not just rappers, we’re artists.’

What I love about Kanye is that he doesn’t fit the mould either. He does what he feels.

I love ‘Watch the Throne,’ because Kanye was acting so ratchet.

I always heard 50 Cent, Da Brat, Lil’ Kim, all that in the house. My mom’s playing them – 50 Cent, Kanye West.

My musical tastes go from Zeppelin to Bob Dylan to Kanye West and Lil’ Wayne. Anything modern and progressive.

It just makes you a better artist when you’re with people who are great artists themselves. Being around Kanye, soaking up all the knowledge, all the stuff he got.

I think Kanye West is a hilarious writer.

Even with G.O.O.D. Music, we have artists that have done very well, and we’ve had artists that haven’t. Being attached to Kanye is only going to get you so far. You’ve still got to have the records and the talent and the artistry on your own to carry it.

I think I have kind of have the same mind-set that Kanye West has. He just likes to do his thing.

My favorite Kanye album is ‘My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.’

The Kardashians are walking clickbait – but let’s look closer. Do Kim and Kanye affect how society feels about interracial relationships and blended families?

Someone did a graphic of me in my jersey, and Jordan, they dubbed him guarding me, and Kanye’s face was on both of us. That’s my favorite meme of all time – or so far to-date. I’m gonna have to get that blown up on my wall or something.

Do something active that’s fun. On tour with Kanye and Common, we would have basketball games on a court in every city we went to. With Alicia Keys, we would mountain-bike across Vancouver Island. With Lady Gaga, we would explore all the cool neighborhoods.

Much as my Boomer friends will hate me for saying this, Kanye West is the New Dylan. Not only do Kanye’s best lyrics match Dylan’s prescience, highly inventive word-play and genius for storytelling, his indefatigable cockiness eerily channels Muhammad Ali.

If it’s time to party, it’s time for hip hop. I love Drake, Jay-Z, Kanye. If I’m chilling at home though, I’m listening to Massive Attack, Thievery Corporation, Radiohead, DJ Shadow. I also listen to a lot of classical.

I don’t think I ever wanted to be like Kanye in personality. I think I definitely want to, have always wanted to, have his boldness or assurance in myself.

For my style influences you’ve got to look at Kanye first. Pharrell when I was growing up, too.

All I really want is a beat from Kanye West. I’ve met him, and I think he’s real cool with us. If I get that beat, I’m going to rap the best verse I ever dropped – even if it’s his worst beat.

My take, after spending some time with him, is that Kanye West is not a conservative. He’s not a Republican, but he is a free thinker, and he’s an independent thinker.

Drake and Kanye, y’all gotta move out of the way. I’m younger than y’all. I look better than y’all. I got more swag than y’all. And it just is what it is. I’m here to take it. I’m the new best rapper.

As a hip-hop artist who likes fashion, who can’t help but notice people like Kanye West, Tiger, Big Sean and definitely T.I.P. These guys really understand how to be progressive and fashion forward.

That’s why the Kanye Wests and the Drakes are just in a different league, because they have the ability to be vulnerable and open.

Here’s Kanye, the great musical genius of his generation in hip hop, but, like, society really can’t even deal with him because he’s always saying something that people go, ‘Oh, I can’t believe Kanye said that. I can’t believe he did that.’

I’m heavily influenced by a lot of people like Dre, Pharrell, and Kanye. They’re all big-time tastemakers and trendsetters, just for culture, period. So I strive to do that as well.