Kanye Opens Up About Virgil Abloh's Louis Vuitton Appointment

Kanye: "There is some validation in the fact that someone that I came up with is now the head at Louis Vuitton."

Before he was embraced by the upper echelons of the fashion world, Virgil Abloh was mostly known for his association with Kanye West. He began working with the rapper all the way back in 2002, and eventually took on the role as 'Ye’s artistic director for DONDA; however, within the last couple of years, Abloh has emerged with a series of career milestones, including his recent appointment as Louis Vuitton's menswear artistic director.

Ever since Abloh’s position was announced, many have wondered if Kanye felt any kind of resentment or jealousy toward his former team member—especially since 'Ye has made multiple claims about being discriminated against within the fashion industry. In his recent interview with Charlamagne tha God, Kanye opened up about his friend’s success in the industry.

“Did it upset you? Because you said you had mixed emotions when Virgil got the job […] because that’s something that you wanted,” Charlamagne said. “You were verbal about wanting in on one of these fashion houses and being able to creative for a Louis Vuitton or Gucci.”

'Ye insisted there were no hard feelings.

“There is some validation in the fact that someone that I came up with is now the head at Louis Vuitton,” he said, before clarifying that Virgil’s role is strictly for LV’s menswear department.

“Did Virgil call you before he took the job?” Charlamagne asked. "Or did you hear about it on the internet like the rest of us?”

“No, he made the call about two minutes before it hit the internet,” 'Ye said with a laugh. “The breakthrough with Virgil is now we have someone who's come from DONDA, who's come from the school of Kanye West... Some people have to do things just to prove that they can be done, whether they become the billionaire on the other side of it. Obama went into that office as a public servant in a service position. 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.”

Charlamagne then asked Kanye why Abloh would chose to go to LV if that meant devoting less time to his successful Off-White brand.

“Off-White has five, 10 stores. Louis Vuitton has 2,000 stores. It's like taking the job as the president. Trump, you see Trump's name on all types of buildings, but he still took the job as president,” Kanye explained, before talking about an offer to become Adidas’ creative director. “You have like, you know, this conversations about a creative director role for me at Adidas. It's like OK I got my brand, it's this billion dollar brand, this unicorn company that's growing, but to be able to go and be able to direct Adidas in all those stores, it’s another conversation. I'd be open to the conversation to taking a job like that.”

You can check out the full interview here.

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