Kanye West Quotes

I'm not just a hip-hop artist; I feel like I'm a rock star.

We culture. Rap is the new rock 'n roll. We the rockstars. It's been like that for a minute, Hedi Slimane!

Am I a rock star? Yeah, I guess.

Well, I don't like the word 'rock star,' the two words, 'rock star.' Not even 'soft rock star. Not even limestone star. I don't like those words.

Now I realize that from '72 through to about '76, I was the ultimate rock star. I couldn't have been more rock star.

I always wanted to be a rock'n'roll star.

I'm not a pop star.

You can't compete with hip-hop. That doesn't mean I don't want to be as big as a rap star. I do - I'm always competitive. But there's this weird perception of me as someone who's sitting around plotting like a devil. It's not like that.

When I was 15 and dreaming about being a rock star... I thought the whole point of it was to get chicks.

When I was a kid, everyone wanted to be in a band - that was the path to girls, adulation, money.

I consider 'Dope' a part of the new mainstream.

I think America just needs to get real when it comes to the way our kids speak and communicate. They need to understand what happens in rap.

Being a rock star is being a rock star, I don't need to go into the details. What would you do if you were a rock star?

I think every generation has that movement of hip-hop that you know you're playing it and you definitely have that moment of like, "Why am I saying this so enthusiastically? Why am I so stoked and psyched to say these lyrics?"

I don't think hip-hop is a dying art form. I think it's impossible for hip-hop to be a dying art form.

One of the great things about rap music... it leaves a lot to be desired, as far as I'm concerned, musically, but I do recognize the very important place that it has in music and in creating role models for younger kids to emulate, giving them the dream that they can make it out of whatever situation they're in.

I knew when I wrote the line “light-skinned friend look like Michael Jackson” [from the song “Slow Jamz"] I was going to be a big star.

I don't want to be a playwright, I want to be a rock and roll star.

You don't become a rock star for no reason.

There's this celebrity thing that goes along with making records or being a rock star. I'm into this celebrity thing just enough to let me go on making records and making a living out of it.

This is the industry that wants [music], the rap industry.

I'm going to be as big as Sinatra.

Rap is the number one most influential thing, it's the only genre that really strikes a chord. When you sing, you feel a certain way and it makes you feel good, but when you rap, it just strikes a chord a whole different way.

My whole life is about being Nicki Minaj now. It's a never-ending saga.

Rock stars get room keys, I get business cards.