Kanye West dropped a nearly two-hour interview with Charlamagne tha God Monday. The bulk of attention, of course, will likely be given to any comments West made that could be construed as related to his recent penchant for vomitous public MAGA-ing. (Also: Jay Z.) However, sprinkled throughout the interview are plenty of notable bits about West collaborator and Louis Vuitton's new artistic director of men's wear Virgil Abloh.
"The breakthrough with Virgil is now we have someone who's come from Donda, who's come from the school of Kanye West," West said, adding that some people must do things "just to prove" said things can actually be done. "Obama went into that office as a public servant in a service position," West said. "It didn't matter the amount of money or ownership. The world needed to see that this is a possibility. For Virgil, it's like, the world just needs to see things."
West also detailed a would-be LV deal of his own that ultimately fell apart, even with Abloh's involvement. "As far as getting the job or taking the job or is it cool, yeah bro," West told Charlamagne of Abloh's new role. "Like, it's a cool job to have. They got that platform, they got thousands of stores, they got resources. You know, I met with Hermès maybe a year and a half prior to that. I met with Bernard Arnault. We had a deal on the table that we shook on. I did some performances at the museum."
He went on: "Then, three months later, the deal got dropped at the board. That set me back in apparel a bit when that happened because in order for me to even negotiate the deal—this is after I did Season 1 with Adidas—I had to go to Adidas and say, 'I know we have the best fashion show,' all this, 'but Louis Vuitton is gonna back Yeezy and the Kanye West company and these guys are masters of clothes so I need you to indemnify the clothes.' I got paperwork on it."
The Adidas team was cool with this move. "If you notice, there has never been Adidas x Yeezy clothing," West said. "This happened right after the fashion show in February. I met with Bernard Arnault in February. We shook our hands on the deal and then his son called me and said, 'It’s dropped at the board we don't think it's going to be profitable before we run out of money.' They only wanted to invest $30 million into it. You need to invest at least $100 million when you're making a new brand."
For the full Ye x Charlamagne discussion, check the video up top. Some key LV and Virgil-related quotes can be found around 75 minutes in.
