Ye pointed to his influential 2008 album 808s & Heartbreak as having helped shape the eventual sounds of numerous fellow artists, including Drake, The Weeknd, Travis Scott, Future, and Young Thug, in a new interview with Big Boy alongside his Vultures 1 partner Ty Dolla Sign.
Ye pulled no punches, flatly saying, "I invented every style of music of the past 20 years. I created the genre."
"I created Weeknd’s genre. Trav, Drake, everybody," said Ye. "I’mma go ahead and say with all love, Future and Thug also because the auto-tune album, 808s. Everybody thinks about Trav, Weeknd, and Drake but no one thinks about Future and Thug also. The auto-tune album. Now everyone, they added whatever it was to it. But here’s a new genre. It’s called making your own money genre. This music is called, like, take that middle man out."
The 808s influence on Drake’s career, specifically, is one that’s been said time and time again, with the 6 God using the beat to Kanye's “Say You Will” for his song “Say What’s Real” on his breakout project So Far Gone. Years later, Drake’s 808s-esque “Find Your Love” was given a live Ye rendition at the Free Larry Hoover Benefit event.
When Travis Scott released his most album, UTOPIA, it was immediately compared to Yeezus. The Thug and Future comparasions were a bit more surprising—which may explain why Ye hesitated momentarily—because their sounds have often been compared to autotune era Lil Wayne and T-Pain certainly played a major role in popularizing the use of auto-tune.
Whatever you may think of Ye's many controversies, it hard to deny that he is one of the greatest artists of the 21st century who has changed everything.
Later in the interview, the artist formerly known as Kanye West first reflected on how he’s never had a meeting with Apple CEO Tim Cook despite being like the new Steve Jobs.
“I’m the new Steve,” Ye said around 22 minutes into the interview, released Friday. “How I’m not going to meet with Tim Cook? You was employed to Steve. I’m Steve. And of this music game, I am. But not under Lucian.”
The latter is a reference to Universal Music Group CEO Lucian Grainge, with whom Ye has had public issues in the past.
All of this, clearly contributes to how Ye views his and Ty’s Vultures 1 debuting atop the Billboard 200 and its single “Carnival” becoming a Hot 100 No. 1 hit. In Ye's eyes, it's a "fuck you" moment. See more below.
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Thursday night, Ye and Ty brought their ongoing series of performance art stagings to Rolling Loud California. Next for the duo is the second volume in a planned Vultures trilogy, though recent remarks suggest Ye may be going for an anti-streaming release strategy this time around.
