Kanye West has displayed unprecedented levels of self-confidence, even for him, as he declared himself the ‘greatest human artist of all time’ in a recent interview.
Just to clarify, that’s the greatest human artist, suggesting there’s some other species out there who could be better artists than him. There’s a few piano-playing hamsters who might be good contenders.
Of course, we all have different music tastes, but there’s a select group of musicians out there who many people would agree are classed as ‘the greats’.
The Beatles, for example, as well as Freddie Mercury, Elvis Presley, Elton John, Beethoven, Mozart (not to mention artists in other disciplines). They usually earn the coveted status from fans, but Kanye isn’t waiting around for anyone’s validation.
The rapper made the comments during a recent interview with Zane Lowe, in which he opened up about his new album, politics and religion.
His ego was put on display when he spoke about meeting President Donald Trump and his decision to wear one of the controversial ‘Make America Great Again’ hats, claiming his choice was a ‘practical joke’ from God to liberals.
Kanye said:
I am unquestionably, undoubtedly, the greatest human artist of all time. It’s not even a question at this point. It’s just a fact.
For the greatest artist in human existence to put a red hat on was God’s practical joke to all liberals. Like, ‘Nooo, not Kanye!’
As if that declaration wasn’t enough, the 42-year-old went on to assure listeners he ‘will’ be president of the United States in the future. While it’s a very confident statement, I suppose it wouldn’t actually be too surprising – Trump has proved even the most outrageous candidates can be successful.
He continued:
There will be a time when I will be President of the United States and I will remember… any founder that didn’t have the capacity to understand culturally what we’re doing.
Kanye’s interview aired last night, October 24, on Beats 1 ahead of the release of his new album Jesus Is King, which was originally slated to be released on September 27 before it was pushed back.
Just hours ahead of the new release date today, the rapper took to Twitter to announce changes are still being made to some of his songs, suggesting the album release is going to be pushed back even further.
This morning, he wrote:
To my fans
Thank you for being loyal & patient
We are specifically fixing mixes on “Everything We Need” “Follow God” & “Water”
We not going to sleep until this album is out!
Kanye’s new album is said to include allusions to God, in keeping with his recent conversion to Christianity.
There’s a lot of pressure on the rapper’s new album now he’s labelled himself the ‘greatest human artist of all time,’ which might be why he’s still making some last-minute changes.
While Jesus Is King will probably be good, it would take a lot to meet the high expectations Kanye’s set for himself!
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Emily Brown first began delivering important news stories aged just 13, when she launched her career with a paper round. She graduated with a BA Hons in English Language in the Media from Lancaster University, and went on to become a freelance writer and blogger. Emily contributed to The Sunday Times Travel Magazine and Student Problems before becoming a journalist at UNILAD, where she works on breaking news as well as longer form features.