The 10 Best Moments From Kanye West's Oxford University Lecture
3 March 2015, 15:39
The most quotable man in music delivered an inspiring speech at his Oxford University lecture.
Yesterday (3rd March) Kanye West took to the stage at Oxford University to deliver a lecture to 350 ballot winners from the university - there were around 5000 entries. West delivered the talk at the city's Natural History Museum on behalf of the Oxford Guild Society.
He covered everything from classism to fine art to The Matrix (if you want to read the full transcript, you can here) and was on classic form.
We've picked out the 10 BEST moments from the lecture to save you scrawling through the whole thing. And believe us when we say, there are some gems in there.
1. "My goal, if I was going to do art, fine art, would have been to become Picasso or greater."
“That always sounds so funny to people, comparing yourself to someone in the past that has done so much, and in your life you’re not even allowed to think that you can do as much. That’s a mentality that suppresses humanity."
2. "I think one of the most important things to my ability to create so much in the past 30 years is my desire to play sports."
"I approach creativity like a sport, where if I have a drawing I react just like a jock: LOOK AT THE FUCKING DRAWING RIGHT THERE YEAH! We’re all creatives here, we’re all born artists. Some people are artists of business, some people are artists of composition."
3. "The Matrix is like the Bible of the post-information age."
“I compared it like, when the hundred guys come at Neo, those are opinions, that’s perception, that’s tradition. Attacking people from every which angle possible."
4. "It’s still February, right?"
“By the way, I don’t know the days of the week. I just go to exactly when my appointment is."
5. “I think that progression of mind with the advent of a human being named Drake (laughs) you know, this idea of holding onto a number 1 spot.
"And then you get this guy that comes and blows out the water every number 1 of any band ever. Be it me, or Paul McCartney [laughs]."
6. "Time is the only luxury."
It’s the only thing you can’t get back. If you lose your luggage – I’m not gonna say the obvious brand of luggage that I’d normally say because I’ve got a meeting with them soon – if you lose your expensive luggage at the airport, you can get that back. You can’t get the time back. It feels like people do everything in life to get this BMW, this Benz, to get this townhome, to get 2.5 kids exactly. One of them has to be small, y’know!"
7. "You guys have been taught, without you knowing, ways to separate yourselves from each other."
"If you’re separated, you can be easily controlled. If you’re too busy pointing fingers at each other, rather than holding hands, you can’t get anything done. You know, Chris Rock called my album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy…well, Chris Rock and everyone else at every single media publication called My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy the best album of the last 25 years. This only came through collaboration."
8. “One of my biggest Achilles heels has been my ego."
And if I, Kanye West, the very person, can remove my ego, I think there’s hope for everyone.
9. "People say I have a bad reputation. I think I’ve got the best reputation in the building."
"They want you to have a reputation of tucking your black nail polish into your pockets and sitting in the corner of the class, and not fighting for your ideas out of fear of being ridiculed. That’s one of my favourite ones…to be called crazy."
10. "People say to me ‘you’re successful, what are you crying about?’. I’m crying about the people."
"I’m crying about their daughters. Our daughters, as one family. What good is it. What good is anything that everyone can’t have. Every ism. They think we’re done with racism. What about elitism, what about separatism, what about classism?"