Kanye West claims to have reinvented the word 'gay'
Thu. February 19, 2009 12:00 AM by Brett Anthony
details magazine
photo credit // details.com
Chicago's Kanye West says that the word 'gay' should not be an insult.
Instead the rapper says that the term will be used in future as synonymous with fashionable and stylish.
"I like to embody titles or words that have negative connotations, and explain why that's good," West says in an interview with Details magazine. "Take the word gay. Like, in hip-hop, that's a negative thing, right? But in the past two, three years, all the gay people I've encountered have been, like, really, really, extremely dope."
West continues in the interview.
"Y'know, I haven't, like, gone to a gay bar, nor do I ever plan to. But where I would talk to a gay person -- the conversation would be mostly around, like, art or design -- it'd be really dope. From a design standpoint, kids'll say, 'Dude, those pants are gay.' But if it's, like, good, good, good fashion-level, design-level stuff, where it's on a higher level than the average commercial design stuff, it's, like, gay people that do that. I think that should be said as a compliment. Like, 'Dude, that's so good it's almost . . . gay.'"
On his music career West says, "There's nothing more to be said about music. I'm the f--king end-all, be-all of music."
In an interview early this month with MTV, West said that he "used to be scared to talk to a gay person," but in a recent concert in New York, urged fans to reject homophobia.
West did not discuss speculation over his sexuality.
Instead the rapper says that the term will be used in future as synonymous with fashionable and stylish.
"I like to embody titles or words that have negative connotations, and explain why that's good," West says in an interview with Details magazine. "Take the word gay. Like, in hip-hop, that's a negative thing, right? But in the past two, three years, all the gay people I've encountered have been, like, really, really, extremely dope."
West continues in the interview.
"Y'know, I haven't, like, gone to a gay bar, nor do I ever plan to. But where I would talk to a gay person -- the conversation would be mostly around, like, art or design -- it'd be really dope. From a design standpoint, kids'll say, 'Dude, those pants are gay.' But if it's, like, good, good, good fashion-level, design-level stuff, where it's on a higher level than the average commercial design stuff, it's, like, gay people that do that. I think that should be said as a compliment. Like, 'Dude, that's so good it's almost . . . gay.'"
On his music career West says, "There's nothing more to be said about music. I'm the f--king end-all, be-all of music."
In an interview early this month with MTV, West said that he "used to be scared to talk to a gay person," but in a recent concert in New York, urged fans to reject homophobia.
West did not discuss speculation over his sexuality.