In the You Tube clip of the incident, you do look like you’re having fun with it. Duh. MSN had clips that made it look like I was bitin’ this baby’s head off. But backstage at the VMAs, I was upset. Not just because of the ridiculous [snubs year after year]; it was more because they made me perform in that suite and told me I didn’t want to perform on the main stage. They told me Justin [Timberlake] wasn’t performing on the main stage, either.
Strength in Numbers
WEST: It was their idea to come up with [“Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger”] and my idea to sample it. Just the way the song was put together, especially at the end—I’ve never accomplished that level of musicality. I think I’ve fallen short every time I’ve attempted to do something like it. But falling short of that is still way better than everything else in hip-hop.
THOMAS BANGALTER: The challenge when you’re taking a sample is to make it fit your own universe. The interesting thing here is how he took our music and really made it his own in terms of his personality. That’s what we’re trying to do as artists—make universal the things we want to express. That’s what Kanye does. He distorts the initial meaning of the song, and that’s what’s interesting.
WEST: Like how I’m not on my album covers and stuff? These guys really stick with the whole not-showing-their-faces thing. Just amazing discipline—that’s straight martial-arts status.
BANGALTER: I think we’re at a time when there’s less genre separation than before. There’s an open-mindedness on the part of both the musicians and the audiences. Things aren’t so segregated.
WEST: I faced some backlash when the single first came out. I think the electronic community was saying, “How dare you sample this holy grail?” And the hip-hop people were saying, “You have to always do what we’re used to you doing.” But I think hip-hop is about always being new and cutting-edge and coming up with a combination you haven’t heard. It’s bittersweet, because on one hand, you want to be influential, but on the other, you want other people to be original, too. We were really breaking new ground, and I can only imagine how long it took to make the original. [Turns to Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo] How long did it take to make the original? BANGALTER: A long time. We’d work on a track and let it rest for a few months, then go back to it. And I completely agree with what you’re saying about being influential—what you want is for the next generation to destroy what you’ve done and start from scratch. It’s good to take risks when you’re nobody, but it’s more exciting and important to do it once you’re exposed.
Kanye, what did you think of the Daft Punk live show? WEST: Ah, man, it sucked. [Laughs] It was very breathtaking and awe-inspiring. I still don’t quite understand how they were able to do it.
Which turned out not to be the truth. The thing is, the people at MTV know where I’m trying to go. And I feel like, “Why do you not want me to reach my full potential?” If I’ve got a record like “Stronger,” which is blowing up all across the world, call an audible! It’s like, “Yo, let’s let him take over the fuckin’ world the way we helped Justin take over the world.” Because, at the end of the day, if Justin can charge, like, two million for a private event, I think, partially, it’s because MTV helped make him the No. 1 artist. Okay, now I work my fuckin’ ass off—first to fight back from all the award-show backlashes, then to have the No. 1 song in the world. And a [hard-rocking] song like that as a black man? That is next to impossible. Yet you’re gonna open the show with Britney and close with Justin?! To me, you’re saying, “We don’t want another Michael Jackson, we want Elvis!”
Have you talked to MTV? I tried. I had a meeting with them and we were supposed to squash it, but they never played “Good Life.” I had “Good Life” as Video of the Week, and halfway into the week, they took it off and put up 50 Cent and Robin Thicke. How credible is that? I apologized to them for my spazzes. But I think it’s fucked-up that I had a meeting with them and they still didn’t play my video. My thing is, you gotta let me know, “Yo, by the way, Justin is performing on the main stage.” And this is the thing: I love Justin. To me, he is the pinnacle. Black people like him, white people like him, girls like him, gay people like him. Do you know how hard it would be as a black artist to get to that point? [Sanguinely] I know that the right thing to do would have been to not say anything to MTV, because that’s just made it harder for me. And I honestly think they felt that they were giving me a [quality] moment. But it’s just so—my biggest thing is impatience. Maybe God is saying, “It’s not your time yet.”
[Ed. note: According to an MTV rep, the network offered West the choice of performing in a suite or on the main stage, denies conferring with West on Timberlake’s performance, and points to main-stage appearances by Rihanna and Chris Brown as evidence of MTV’s color blindness.]
You’ve been through a lot this year. Do you have a sense of how you’ve changed as a person? Every year I learn more. Times are still scary, but I got to sit down with Daft Punk and Madonna, and with a lot of incredible individuals, and learn from them. I’m gonna keep making music so that ten, 20 years from now, I’ll be able to be where Mick is. Where Bono is.
BANGALTER: We won’t speak about it. ANDRE W VONTZ
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