Image via Complex Original
It's old news now that Yeezus is done competing with other rappers and designers. Though music and fashion are his two most major realms of both pop cultural relevance and success, he's got a much bigger vision, a plan to take his influence so far that he can only be compared to the likes of Walt Disney and Steve Jobs. Specifically, he'd like to be the "Steve Jobs of the Gap."
And while Kanye is a victim of the premature boast, who's to say that he won't really take it to those two gawds' level one day? More importantly, who are we to say dude should be ashamed of himself for even making the comparison in the first place? It's not as wild as it seems. If the first order of being is talking the talk, then Kanye's already there. It seems like there's a new interview quote that Ye fans are salivating over while his detractors are adding it to their Kanye Is Human Garbage argument every day. But really, Steve Jobs talked the same shit, just in a more mild-mannered tone. In honor of what would have been Steve Jobs' 60th birthday (RIP, gawd), here are a handful of quotes from both him and Kanye that prove their stunt level, at the very least, is a lot closer than one may have thought.
They have the same morbid opinion towards celebrity and status.
Steve: "Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me … Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful … that’s what matters to me." [via]
Kanye: "You want to be upper class, you want to be first class, but when the plane crash, everybody dead.” [via]
No, seriously, death drives them.
Aesthetics are the end-all for both creatives.
Steve: "When you’re a carpenter making a beautiful chest of drawers, you’re not going to use a piece of plywood on the back, even though it faces the wall and nobody will see it. You’ll know it’s there, so you’re going to use a beautiful piece of wood on the back. For you to sleep well at night, the aesthetic, the quality, has to be carried all the way through.” [via]
Kanye: "You know those photos that you see with me getting on my knees in front of the paparazzi to fix Kim’s pant leg? That's what I want to do for the world. I want to get on my knees and fix everyone’s pant leg, if they'll have me." [via]
Simplicity is key for both of them.
Steve: That’s been one of my mantras — focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex; you have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple.” [via]
Kanye: "It's just reducing down the amount of information that you need. People say a design is the point where you can't take anything else away." [via]
And they both agree that quality is the designer's ultimate responsibility.
At the same time, they embrace their mistakes.
Steve: "Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly, and get on with improving your other innovations." [via]
Kanye: "If you read books—which I don't, none at all—about how to become a billionaire, they always say, 'You learn more from your mistakes.' So if you learn from your mistakes, then I'm a fucking genius." [via]
For Kanye and Steve Jobs, inspiration stems from genuine need.
Steve: "Every good product I've ever seen is because a group of people cared deeply about making something wonderful that they and their friends wanted. They wanted to use it themselves." [via]
Kanye: "I just want to propose a solution to problems that me and my wife and my friends face. I sit with a group of problem solvers and say, 'In this situation, I would like to have this.'" [via]
They were both ignored by big companies early on.
Steve: "So we went to Atari and said, 'Hey, we've got this amazing thing, even built with some of your parts, and what do you think about funding us? Or we'll give it to you. We just want to do it. Pay our salary, we'll come work for you.' And they said, 'No.' So then we went to Hewlett-Packard and they said, 'Hey, we don't need you. You haven't got through college yet.'" [via]
Kanye: "Me and Virgil [Abloh] are in Rome, giving designs to Fendi, over and over, and getting our designs knocked down? [We] brought the leather jogging pants six years ago to Fendi, and they said 'no.' How many motherfuckers you done seen with a leather jogging pant?" [via]
