As I previewed yesterday, Kanye West went to Oxford to give a lecture to some-odd 1800 students, faculty and journalists. The lecture/discussion was organized by the Chairman of the Oxford Union Guild, who told journalists that he spent “many hours negotiating against the odds” to get Kanye to come to Oxford. Really? It took that much effort? Anyway, Oxford’s The Tab live-tweeted Yeezy’s speech and the tweets are… works of art. Some highlights, taken entirely from @TheTabOxford (SPOILER: Kanye was dropping some Yeezy-style Zen Koans on everybody):
His college experience: “If I could have done it again I would have gone to the Art Institute over the American Academy”
He could have been Picasso: “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 who has done so much, and that’s a mentality that suppresses humanity”
Civilization: “We have the resources as a civilisation to make a utopia, but we’re led by the most greedy and the least noble”
Obama calls him: “Obama calls the home phone, by the way.”
We are family: “People ask me how my daughter is doing. She’s only doing good if your daughter’s doing good. We’re all one family.”
Race is like crabs: “We have the ability to approach our race like ants, or we have the ability to approach our race like crabs.”
Race and class: “We’ve had Cosby Show, Obama’s president, Beyonce’s great…that’s passed. But you’re still taught the division by class, especially in UK.”
Humble-bragging: “Chris Rock & everyone else at every single media publication called My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy the best album of the last 25 years. One of the best thing about the album was Nicki Minaj, and that she kicked my ass, on my own song, on the best album of the last 25 years. I was exiled from my own country, came back with my magnum opus, and I was beat by a girl.”
His reputation: “People say I’ve got a bad reputation. I think I’ve got the best reputation in the building.”
This is amazing: “Beauty has been stolen from the people and is being sold back to them as luxury.”
This is also amazing: “Clothing should be like food. There should never be a $5000 sweater. You know what should cost $5000? A car.”
Is Kanye a megalomaniac? For sure. Is he on the line between genius and insanity? Kind of. Does he need to settle down? Yes. But I have to say, I enjoy him. I really do. No other celebrity, rapper, musician, actor, whoever would have been able to go the Oxford Student Union and give the kids these kinds of quotes. God help me, I am a Yeezy Apologist.
Photos courtesy of WENN, Pacific Coast News.
I feel as though that could have gone much worse.
Yeezy gets a pass this time in my book.
I’m kind of in shock right now. Was he just insightful and entertaining?? What just happened?
He does – gasp – make some good points but the comment about the $5000 sweater made me laugh. This coming from a guy who dresses his toddler in designer clothes and who probably wears $5000 underwear? Come on now, Kanye.
That said, I do agree about the world’s leaders being more greedy than noble, he hit the nail on the head there!
I wonder what Kimye has actually purchased for North. A lot of clothing is given to them by designers, like the fur coat , or by her sister and family. I think Kanye is very bright. I do not think he is a genius but I do think he is smarter than most.
For me the best quote is “Beauty has been stolen from the people and is being sold back to them as luxury.”
I think it is true.
And he is first in line to sell and line his pockets even more. What a hero.
The irony of this statement is that women feel they need to go out and get surgery because some people decided that women should all have fake body parts. Who’s his family again?
Oh I really like that quote. That’s really true and a more original and interesting thought than “World leaders are more greedy than noble” Yeah no kidding. lololol
This is pretty true. Much of the excess is purchased by Kim and much of it is also gifted because designers see it as free advertising. And it is in a way. Remember when DVF sent over season collections to Paris when Paris was seen as gross and losing popularity? It doesn’t really matter who is wearing the stuff. As long as they get covered and seen.
From what i’ve read about Kanye’s past he has always been kind of an ego maniac, but he seemed decent and still tries to live in a way that makes his mother proud.
I’m also finding Kanye does loads of private charity donations. It’s not covered, but it’s understood he keeps donating if his name is kept out.
Much Like the Rolling Stones will keep dropping into a New Haven dive bar under the name of another band for random shows if it’s never advertised they go there. You just get lucky and see them.
I do like it when celebs do those random things and prefer anonymity.
LOL. But is his Adidas line priced so high or was demand so high that people were reselling for obscene prices?
Women are always buying something to deflate or enhance a body part. Insecurity is free.
I don’t think the fact that his daughter is in designer is outrageous. Chances are he doesn’t pay a penny for it, it’s all just handed to him…so his words still stand.
Well, his words stand as far as he believes them to be true. He is saying them from a perspective where he is given a lot of things for free. People who could actually benefit from free (or cheaper) high quality things through an improved standard of living are never actually the beneficiaries of such. So of course he thinks there is plenty to go around and is baffled as to why people want. He is encased in his own little entitled bubble of wealth and privilege.
Agree. Spot on assessment.
Also, for as many times as I just want someone to get in his face and scream, “will you just SHUT the F UP!!!” — I would miss his crazy ass ways and statements. I will never miss his Fashion Line or ugly ass sneakers.
Yeezy– that ship has sailed.
And fur coats that cost thousands – hypocrite.
Sick of people indulging him. He said nothing meaningful here, and is the biggest hypocrite out there. He has done absolutely nothing to make the world better, and is married to someone who definitely makes it worse. Stating that we are led by the greed and least noble is ridiculous given that I can’t think of more greedy and less noble people than he and his lot. He has bullied people into thinking he is saying something of worth.
Exactly! The problem is that this guy has too many apologists. He’s an idiot and so is his wife.
No one ever claimed that Kim was highly intelligent. She’s not. But she also is not as stupid as some would think.
I’m not a Kanye apologist either. Sometimes he is just a mess. A complete ass. Other times he makes sense and has some interesting ideas. His ego is too massive for his own good, however and in the end, that will be his downfall.
NGBoston
People need to feel justified in belittling others. You can’t rationalize it. We can all just claim from what we read on gossip sites that we are better than others. I drew the line when people started attacking North because of blood relation to Kim. There’s no reason here. It’s a free for all without civility.
What boggles my mind is that an institute of higher learning even wanted him there. Wasn’t he the one who said that he’s a proud non-reader of books? The guy revels in his own ignorance for crying out loud. Perhaps, they were just studying him and not really listening to him.
I think all the negotiations mentioned probably involved convincing their academic colleagues that this was a good idea. Kanye is not stupid, but he does have serious issues. You never know how manic he might be at a given moment. It gets in the way of any insights he might have.
I agree with him about the $5000 cars. But how does he explain those pricey earrings he put in his baby’s ears? He doesn’t walk the talk.
I can’t believe people keep feeding this douchebag’s ego. Ugh. Everything he is quoted as saying is utterly hypocritical on his part. He’s a joke.
This. All day. He rails against corporations, yet he is one. He whines about poverty and what not, and the class system and so on. And yet he lives about as lavishly as is humanly possible. If he REALLY wanted to make a point, he can give all the wealth to people who need it and he can live in a small apartment and wear clothes from Target. I don’t begrudge people their $ and they can spend it how they see fit. Just don’t go on and on about how money is evil while you’re rolling around in it.
Well said & very true. He is an idiot being followed by other idiots.
I almost think it’s cruel for people to keep giving him opportunities to speak publicly, just because they are entertained by the ravings of a mentally ill man. Remember the story Tony Soprano told about the kid in his neighborhood who had a severe speech impediment, and they would convince him to sing just so they could laugh at him?
I agree, how many of us have these thoughts yet because they come out of a dummy they are wowed. There are scientists, philanthropists, philosophers who could have had the podium and talked about real issues. This celebrity lifestyle is disgusting, not impresses Obama calls him, just shows what an idiot Opus is, there are real issues out there and having a raper who designs sneakers that are made in china for pennies on the dollard is disgusting.
So very true!
“We have the resources as a civilisation to make a utopia, but we’re led by the most greedy and the least noble”
Which is EXACTLY why he should not be speaking at Oxford. He is the living embodiment of his own quote.
Yep. He’s not funny and he’s not a genius. If he’s lecturing at Oxford, isn’t the point of a lecture to TEACH something to the people listening to you??? What could anyone have possibly learned from his self-indulgent sound bytes above? Nothing he said was thought provoking or intelligently provocative. All it is is him stroking his ego, and people are giving him the ability to do it.
A waste of my time reading this. Parents sending their kids to Oxford should ask for a refund!
Thank you. And stunts like this one (speaking at an Oxford student CLUB, not at any of the colleges at the university) are bald-faced attempts to give him credibility as…something. God knows what, but he’s dying for people to respect him and he now realizes that bullying them into it isn’t working. This gambit isn’t working either, though – he has nothing original or insightful to say about anything. Just running around preening and shooting off one’s mouth and consuming everything in sight doesn’t make a person worthy of respect or admiration. Unless, of course, one is a moron of Kanye’s ilk.
He’s so entertaining. And sometimes, he actually DOES mean well.
I LOVE My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. And I’m not even a Nicki fan, but she did kill it on Monster. But that album is SO good. I knew every word in high school. I should go listen to it…
He can’t go a day without name dropping Beyonce.
Cage fight: Kanye and Kid Rock, make that happen.
Just amazing. Love him.
Yeezy apologist here, too. I don’t even understand this quote yet I think it’s amazing and perfect: “People ask me how my daughter is doing. She’s only doing good if your daughter’s doing good. We’re all one family.”
He said that…but what is he doing for other people’s daughters? Are he and Kim involved in charities? (Legitimately asking, they could be donating $$ and I have no idea!)
Silly, he and Kim are teaching young women that their only value is their ability to please men. He is everything he rallies against.
He supports Kris’s 17-year-old daughter dating a 25-year-old grown-ass man so forgive me if I don’t trust his parenting skills.
How is she if someone else’s daughter isn’t doing good? I hope North would still be good.
Maybe it just means he doesn’t really know how she’s doing … He doesn’t spend that much time with her. Maybe he’ll get more interested when she’s a few years older and can text him. Not a joke, actually. He’s very verbal but she has a very limited vocabulary at the moment. She might even be too young to benefit from visual contact using computers and phones, which have really changed the dynamic for parents often separated physically from their children, but if Kim and Kanye were using that approach, we would have heard about it.
So the sentiment is nice but not sure now well it fits Kanye’s reality.
Maybe if he would be around her more and talk to her (who cares that she can’t verbalize back in a language we understand), he might learn a few things. I have a 2 year old daughter who has been “talking” (babbling to us) and knows what she is saying even though we don’t. We learned not to say yes to what she was saying because she would then go and do whatever she was “talking” about. I have always talked to my children and grandchildren even though they might not have answered in a way I understood them. But they answered me. Now is the time to be interested in her and involved in her life. He has the ability to work in LA and doesn’t therefore is not around North as much as he could be. JMO.
Swack: your comment reminded me of a youtube video that went viral in which a toddler had a face off with her father. The father was trying to get her to get off a table (I think) and she was having none of it. She was babbling at him, gesturing and generally sass-ing him even if it was all toddler speak. And he got so frustrated with her that in the end he picked her off it to lots more toddler protestation.
The amazing thing was despite the lack of words, you could tell what the toddler was communicating. All I could think was she will be trouble when she’s a teen!! 🙂
@LAK – that could be my granddaughter!! She told her mom, when asked, that she was in charge (she had told her mom NO to going to bed. Guess who went to bed!).
That’s the only quote in this thing that makes sense.
If you’re a Kanye apologist though you should do some soul searching. He’s trash.
When Kanye said clothes should be like food, I wonder how many bags of groceries could be bought for the price of an outfit he dresses his wife in
I think he’s talking about sausage-casing dresses?
oh please kanye babble make me want to puke.
“Clothes should be like food, but my toddler-aged daughter wears Alexander Wang and carries Chanel so i don’t really know what i’m taking about. Hashtag Beyonce.”
His concept of reality is fading fast.
#nodisrespecttobenaffleck
LOL!!
LMFAO.
“I was exiled from my own country, came back with my magnum opus, and I was beat by a girl.”
His phrasing irks the heck out of me. beat by a GIRL. Not beat by a great artist, beat by another musician, beat by a newcomer…NOPE beat by a GIRL. Ugh Kanye.
A GIRL, not a woman.
Yup. He is a misogynist and this quote just further proves that. Also, the way he talks about his clothes hanger of a wife. He looks at her as an object rather than a person.
Exiled? When? And by whom? Can they please do it again? President Obama, you have their home phone number. See what you can do.
Yep, the more he talks the more he reveals himself to be a horrible misogynist.
That irked me to. Spoken at Oxford, no less. Ugh.
Yeah, what an ass.
Right on. Tell me how this statement was “zen”? Idiots indulge this idiot!
My eyes are rolling so hard at the insistence he has on his “classism is the new racism” theory, he keeps going on and on with this idea that racism is no longer relevant but classism is. The other quotes despite the slight insanity are actually interesting? he’s right that Nicki’s verse in Monster will go down as one of the best verses in rap history, he can spare the “beat by a girl” comment.
You and both.
He needs to be sat down with a group of white feminists and schooled about intersectionality 😯 We hear crap about latinos and blacks being the biggest welfare queens but guess who benefits the most of social programs? Hint: it ain’t us.
I’m side eyeing the hell out of Oxford for this mess.
Well, to be honest, “beat by a girl” is a cliché that doesn’t really mean misogynist. Actually the meaning is typically the opposite- pointing out that women really can be equal or better than men, we are not doomed to inferiority by our gender. It’s a major step forward from my mother’s era- when I was 13, mom told me quite seriously to never win in games with boys or men. I assumed their fragile egos couldn’t handle it. In any case, it used to be (and still is) quite common for women to let the guys win games or debates or to be careful not to show too much intelligence in a mixed classroom (as male observers of classroom dynamics have also noted: one fellow saw his bright students from a women’s college deliberately drop into the background in a joint class with a men’s college, letting the guys dominate the discussion; he wasn’t happy about it). So I wouldn’t put any negative spin on that. I would interpret it to be admiring of Minaj’s skill. The phrase “beat by a woman” would not have the same punch, it’s an idiomatic thing. Kanye is quite aware that Minaj is a full grown woman.
I’m glad someone else caught this. Word.
That is very generous of you, but it is an insult to women.
“Beat by a girl” means a person lost against someone who they were not expecting to lose against. It says that women are inferior, so it is surprising when you find one that is superior. It paints typical girls as a weak opponent, thus the surprise that the person lost to them. You weren’t just beat by someone, you were beat by a girl.
haha remember the time when he claimed Kim not getting a Vogue cover was like classism or something?
Idiot. And the quote about Nicki just proves he really is a massive idiot.
It must be exhausting being inside his head.
Though it’s all in the service of self promotion.
Totally, pure self promotion. But this guy takes it to ridiculous heights. Such that he doesn’t even mind sounding like an arrogant arse and, more often than not, utterly stupid.
I get that he is good gossip on a slow day, but his ranting – I’m so tired of it.
Kayne states, “but we’re led by the most greedy and the least noble”….
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Really. Is he just trolling us all now? This is something he is b*tching about?
The man is married to into the most greedy and least noble family. Ever.
Yeah, I think he is talking about the K-Klan when he says we are being led by…….
You may not see it, but we are indeed “led” by the people we make celebrities. We buy the clothes they promote (by wearing), we buy the stuff they advertise, etc. We delude ourselves by thinking we are not.
Most greedy and least noble of all time….OF ALL TIME!
He’s a first class, grade A nutjob.
Ahhhh what Ye could have been. Smh.
Tell a person in an airport that his cheap shoes are crap, and HIS are better…then tell people paying a lot for clothes and such is greedy.
You need therapy Kanye….you must be inhaling Kimmy’s butt injection fumes too much.
Poser.
The president calls him at home..That should make everyone worry…I hoped he would stay true to form and shout at the students ‘you don’t belong at this fancy school!..only the brilliant perfect beyonce should be allowed here!’ Hehe
“My goal, if I was going to do art, fine art, would have been to become Picasso or greater.”
OR GREATER. Best quote.
IKR? LOLOLOL!!! This had me laughing so hard.
Please just NO, Kanye. You will never surpass Picasso’s greatness.
“Surpass” it?!?! He’d need a passport just to visit it!
Of all the African-Americans who have been so prominent in so many different areas in this century and the last, the only names he can come up with are the disgraced Cosby, his secret crush Beyoncé, and Obama (who thinks he’s a jackass)?!?!?
The Bey crush is not soo secret. Seriously, if it weren’t for the fact that she is married to Jay Z, he would have a restraining order on him by now. And he would be the creepy stalker rapper. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The world would have been totally different. How I wish..
Kanye seems to have limited knowledge of history and everything else. Cosby and Beyonce are probably the only names he knows.
He admitted he hates to read. If you don’t read, how do you learn?
I like him…
*face palm*
Me too.
I am not even going to fight it any more. He amazes me. As an artist and an international icon of… I don’t know what he is doing half the time… I am just going to enjoy the ride.
I truly think he has mental issues and predict that in the near future he’ll have a mental breakdown. His behaviour reminds me of someone with a bipolar disorder. He’s a ticking bomb and it’s just a matter of time.
But there are $5000 sweaters out there because people are willing to buy them. Me – I would never buy a $5000 sweater – I don’t buy $50 sweaters. And for him to talk about it is the kettle calling the pot black. He fashion isn’t exactly priced reasonably.
Kanye, Kim and family don’t seem like bargain shoppers. You’d never see them at the clearance rack at Walmart. People like them are why there are $5000 sweaters, definitely. When I buy a $50-100 sweater once in a while, at least it’s not $5000
I agree. I don’t know if he’s bipolar, but he definitely seems to have manic phases. Something is really wrong. He often sounds stupid as a result, but that’s the mania interfering. He actually is quite intelligent. He might have been on the road to it in his earlier years, if there is a genetic factor, or it might be a consequence of brain damage in the car accident that nearly killed him, or both. I do feel uncomfortable laughing at him, but it’s so hard to resist… Kind of like Charlie Sheen in his tiger blood tour phase- he was clearly manic, too.
Some of what he said is obvious to anyone but I like the $5000 sweater comment. I’m in total agreement with him on that point. I never thought I’d agree with anything he said. Surprise, surprise. Jeeze, what’s the rest of the day going to bring?
Every comment listed above, in and of itself, sounds inspirational and on point, but there’s a problem. Kanye preaches about the simplicity of life and the importance of respecting each and every person, but his daily actions and lifestyle don’t back up the sermon. It’s very hard to be inspired by someone like that. I think he’s what he himself would call a poser.
I agree. He doesn’t practice what he preaches. In fact, if he truly believes the stuff he says, why would he marry Kim? She is everything he hates.
This is very true. Spot on.
+10000000
Kim is everything he claims to despise yet he parades her around like a prized trophy.
Exactly. Goop seems more authentic.
Kanye needs to practice what he preaches.
So much hypocrisy in his statements. First just because we had the Cosby Show (and btw there were many shows centered around black families), Obama and Beyonce, racism has be eradicated and has been replace by classism. Um, no, classism has been there all along. Beauty has only been stolen from someone if they allow it to be stolen. Beauty comes from within and you can’t buy anything that will make you beautiful on the inside. And did he put down the people in the room by saying he had the best reputation there? This man’s ego knows no bounds. And PLEASE stop talking about greed.
“Obama calls the home phone, by the way.”
Girl, bye!
I read more of it at another site; narcissist, delusional….embarrassing.
So agree… On all points.
The ultimate HYPOCRITE!!! Take a thousand seats, Kanye, if you can find room next to Kim. SMDH
I’m glad he mentioned classism. It doesn’t get discussed enough.
Oh please wake me when the guy walks his talk. There is nothing at all amazing about a word that he said. It is all about him again and if I was in that crowd I would have been embarrassed for his half-baked ideas. Talk about hypocrisy he and his wife spend money like its water and they shove it in everyone else’s face. He needs to realize he is not a genius and that reading books is a good thing. Maybe just maybe his limited vocabulary would expand.
Obama doesn’t call him and Beyoncé doesn’t have Kim’s picture on her studio wall for inspiration of a strong women. The guy has lost all sense of reality
Sorry, but that was like reading the comments/slogans from the back of a popular girl’s yearbook. He is embarrassingly under-developed, regardless of his blatant hypocrisy. Perhaps he should take some of that wealth and purchase himself a state-of-the-art clue.
Kornye, shut ya flyhole.
Kanye says there shouldn’t be $5000 sweaters ,but it’s ok to design and sell $350 Adidas? That makes sense.
He told a kid at the airport to throw away his shoes because they weren’t the new Yeezy’s. Isn’t that classist in and of itself? “Oh sorry you’re not cool because you’re not wearing the new $350 shoes I designed”. Kanye is full of himself and full of hypocrisy. How can you not laugh at his comments? He’s married to the most materialistic woman on earth. This dude spent his honeymoon photoshopping ONE wedding pic just so his wife could post it on instagram. He spent HOW MUCH MONEY on his own wedding ??? Has anyone seen the price tags of his clothing line? Still not affordable for the average person. He needs to stop. Who is he fooling?
He doesn’t practice what he preaches.
I studied at Oxford a couple of years ago- why didn’t he come and wow the university with his genius then?? I could have used a break from crying into my Victorian social problem novels…
He flies first class all the time. Why not sit in the back with the rest of us if he isn’t about classism? First class is for rich people and the back is for the rest of us who can’t or don’t want to spend that much on a nicer seat. Until Kanye practices what he preaches, he can shut up. Kanye and Kim even got special treatment at the airport once and someone got in trouble for allowing it. They skipped security. Can a “normal” person get away with that? Yeah try not taking off your shoes when told and see what happens. He enjoys every bit of “classism” and he knows it. Who sits front row at fashion shows? Would Kanye ever be seen sitting second or third row? NEVER.
He gets ZERO passes from me. Especially after throwing his life away by marrying that idiot.
He’s a jackass and a horrible person. He’s a egomaniac, a cheater, a hypocrite, a disgusting human all around, and just because he’s entertaining doesn’t change any of that.
And also: “Clothing should be like food. There should never be a $5000 sweater.”
Is that why he tried to sell a white t-shirt for $200?
and showed a line at Paris Fashion Week a few years ago with prices easily going up to four figures (in $, Euro, whichever)?
Why is everyone so gullible. Why are these celebrities idolized and treated like special human beings. Disgusting how people are wowed by him hes so egotistical and materialistic. Why doesn’t my grandma make a speech at a university ?Shes much wiser and a great role model!
You all bought the latest Con didn’t ya…..Dozens of commenters include members of the faculty at Oxford University have stated over and over again that this was NOT part of Oxford University at all and was not done by the university but by a literary group whose name is Oxford Literary Guild …which are two different entities altogether….the school had nothing to do with it……it just happens to be in the same area…..Thats like me saying my latest solo showing and Art exhibit was held the the University Arts Center in London….which it was….only small difference it was London Kentucky…….
Good to know the world isn’t as far gone as I thought. But, I stand behind every word I said because no group/organization or club should ever invite him to say anything…ever. It’s just embarrassing for everyone.
Oh thanks so much for the info.
GOOD TO KNOW!
Don’t care where he said it, he is still a hypocrite.
As a person who learned English as a second language, I can’t help but wonder if learned proper English and he doesn’t speak coherently, or if I still have an awful lot to learn because I can hardly ever understand what he is trying to say…