Kanye Named Entertainer of the Year

Photo by Alan Clarke

SPIN Magazine named Yeezie Entertainer of the Year in its January issue, which is on news stands now. You can't miss it as he graces the cover.

Here are some snippets from the interview, but you'll have to buy the magazine for the full story.

SPIN: What's been your proudest accomplishment this year? The breadth of music on "Graduation." It's my favorite album to date.
Kanye: Why? I applied a lot of the things I learned on tour [in 2006] with U2 and the Rolling Stones, about songs that rock stadiums. And they worked!

S: Was touring with them a perspective-shifting experience? Life-changing. I thought, "Oh, this is the real thing."
K: How did playing to those crowds change your approach to making Graduation? I way simplified my rap style on this record. [Those crowds] were looking at me like, "I don't know what you're talking about."

S: You think "Graduation" is blacker than "The College Dropout"? K: Way blacker. "Can't Tell Me Nothing" -- how hood is that record? "Good Life" is straight Steve Harvey, all day long. "Flashing Lights"? I never had a record that was that black. But it's white at the same time. Certain things are so good it doesn't have to be white or black. That's what Graduation is. Take "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger." It's a white sample, but everything I do to it is to make it as black as possible. So I'ma make the bass as black as possible; I'ma make the lyrics as intense as possible.

S: Are these choices strictly artistic, or are you thinking as a marketer, too? Can you separate those roles?
K: I can't. I'm a pop enigma. I live and breathe every element in life. I rock a bespoke suit and I go to Harold's for fried chicken. It's all these things at once, because, as a tastemaker, I find the best of everything. There's certain things that black people are the best at and certain things that white people are the best at. Whatever we as black people are the best at, I'ma go get that. Like, on Christmas I don't want any food that tastes white. And when I go to purchase a house, I don't want my credit to look black. [Laughs]

S: And what foods would fall into that category?
K: White-people food? You know what it is. You never ate fried chicken and said, "This tastes white." It's America. People know the stereotypes. I play to the stereotypes. I believe in the stereotypes. And I submit to them. [Affects a black, Southern accent] "Man, black people sure can cook some chicken! And I'ma get some black chicken."

Source: SPIN.com