Complex bossman Marc Ecko sits down with Guest Editor Kanye West for a candid convo about fashion, wack haircuts, and the best breasts they've ever seen.

By Marc Ecko; Guest Editor Kanye West; Photographs by James Dimmock; Styling by Anoma Ya Whittaker and Charlene Roxborough

Marc Ecko: When you visit family, do you dress more modestly?

Kanye West: People say you’re supposed to dress for the occasion. What I always say is dress like you’re coming from somewhere and you got someplace to go. You’ll probably be a little bit more yourself. That’s the attitude I had walking into Bassline studios in Italian shoes. I wasn’t dressing like I was supposed to stay in Bassline, you know what I’m sayin’?

Marc Ecko: Talk to me about your clothing line, Pastelle. We’ve had countless conversations about it, you’ve talked about your aspiration to get in this industry and be taken seriously. What’s going on with Pastelle today, why is it taking so long?

Kanye West: Just getting the right designs. It’s a gift and a curse. You’ve got all eyes on you, so if you deliver something great, it’s gonna get held as, “Oh, it’s supposed to be great.” And even if it’s good or it’s OK or something, it’s gonna get bashed. There were phases where I could just do the bear on a Polo and it would’ve made $100 million. At a certain point. But I always say I was a designer before I was a rapper, and I really wanted to get into design. So then, trying to start designing and goin’ with my girl down to the fashion
district and stuff, and looking at fabrics and stuff like that, I’m like, “Oh, shit. This is real.” I’ve learned so much about materials and fabrics and applications and sequence and shiny fabrics and fits and all type of shit.

Marc Ecko: So when are you gonna do it? You didn’t answer my question.

Kanye West: Yeah, we’ll have stuff in stores by November.

Marc Ecko: OK, good for you.

Kanye West: You and I both know that I’ve had deals on the table. I was gonna put something in someone’s hands, but just with my music, with my videos, and anything I do, that’s like jail, for someone else to be able to push the button on you. Nothing beats the freedom of saying, “No, I don’t want to do that. Yes, I do want to do this.”

Marc Ecko: What in your life made you such a fucking micromanager? I’m not dissing you for that. I mean, Stanley Kubrick was a micromanager. But for sure, it’s a golden handcuffs for you. Is it from a position of fear? Is it a position of confidence? Where is it coming from?

Kanye West: Yeah, that’s a stumper. I don’t know where, what exactly made me…well, my father was very much like that. I don’t want to use the word “anal,” but that’s what you have to be. Like, micromanager is a very nice way to say anal-retentive. Any project that he started doing, he would get so focused on it.

Marc Ecko: Would it drive you crazy? Did it affect your relationship?

Kanye West: Well, no, because I was a little kid and all I could do was learn from it. So I got a lot of that focus from my dad, and the aspiration to be an entrepreneur or do something creative, do something that his neighbor wasn’t doing.

Marc Ecko: Our entire lives, white folks have copied black trends, from fashion to music. And now we’re in this moment where it seems like things have flipped, with black kids dressing like hipsters and bikers. What happened and where is it going?

Kanye West: Style just keeps changing, and that’s what it is right now. What is the true take on hipster? Why do hipsters like the most gangsterest of the gangster rap music? What is the reason behind that? I think it’s a little racist. But it’s equally as racist as why we like the movie White Chicks.

Marc Ecko: Speaking of white chicks, what is it with you and porn? Page Six had it that you had some bag with interracial porn. Is black-on-blond really the thing? And why don’t you just get down like me and just order it in a hotel?

Kanye West: Because you can’t, um— Home // CELEBRITIES // COVER STORY // Kanye West