Jim Jones says he and Kanye West have made major impacts on the fashion world—but did so in completely different ways.
The 45-year-old Harlem native explained his position during a recent sit-down on Hot 97’s Nessa on Air. At one point during the conversation, Nessa questioned Jones about being name-dropped on Ye’s explosive Drink Champs interview: “By the time me and Don [C] came together—that’s what Jim Jones will tell you—that’s when we revolutionized it,” Ye said. “‘Cause we used to sit there and be like, ‘When we get money, n***as ain’t finna be able to see us.”
Jones, who shared the clip on social media, said he remembered his early interactions with Kanye and immediately being impressed by his personal style.
“Just watching him put so much into fashion—there’s a big difference between splashin’ and fashion, is what I want people to know,” he said. “I’m on the splashin’ side. That’s what I do, I drip. Kanye is on the fashion side. I want people to understand there’s a big difference. I might not wear 90 percent [of what] Kanye wears because it’s fashion, I don’t understand that. He might not get into 90 percent of the things that I [got], but we both compliment each other for what we set, the trends that we did set moving forward, and what we did for fashion moving forward. It’s like an equal thing, but he took it to a whole other level, ‘cause he figured out how to monetize it and make billions of dollars off of it.”
Jones went on to describe Kanye as an “evil genius,” and admitted to mocking him over his sartorial choices. However, the “We Set the Trends” rapper insists it was all in good fun and was somewhat rooted in jealousy.
“A lot of times I make fun of Kanye, but I’m just a little pissed off at myself that I’m not as dope as he is,” he explained with a laugh.
Jones then spoke about some of the trends he either set or helped popularize over the years; these included dark shades, designer scarves, B.B. Simon belts, and slim-fitting True Religions. He said there was a time when he had asked the denim brand whether he could be financially compensated for rocking its jeans so frequently, but his request was denied.
“They was like, ‘Nah, we don’t got no money for you, but we can send you a bunch of jeans for free,’” he recalled. “I was like, ‘Fuck you.’ I never wore True Religions again after that … I see Supreme did some things with [True Religion], which is dope, but True Religion and Supreme is two of the same when it come to me. I put both of them on, deliberately, wholeheartedly. That was me. You can’t tell me no different.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Jones spoke on the lessons he learned from Nick Cannon, doing business with friends, and working on six different albums at the same time.
You can watch the full episode up top.
