NEW YORK (AP) — Kanye West skipped the red carpet at a footwear industry event where his Adidas Yeezy Boost was honored as shoe of the year. Instead, he stood just feet away from waiting media, sipping a drink and chatting before he slipped into the ceremony crowd nearby.
When it came time to collect his statue Wednesday night at the Footwear News Achievement Awards, he gave a rambling, 20-minute speech that was good as gold.
Some highlights:
“I completely, you know, have absolutely no plans for what I’m going to say. This could land completely wrong, but it doesn’t really (bleeping) matter, does it? … You can go to the bathroom.”
“Basically as I talk, it’s just a mood board. That’s my new style of speeches. It’s very unorthodox. It’s vibes, you know. You guys are designers. You know how to put it all together at the end of the night. Or you feel free to just talk (bleep). It’s good to have someone to talk (bleep) about. Everybody’s so, like, I just don’t want people to talk (bleep) about me. I don’t give a (bleep), you know.”
“As a creative, it doesn’t matter how big the house is, how big your name is, how much money you have, your job is to create while you’re here, and if anyone is in the way of that, if anything gets in the way of that, if anything is stopping that or slowing it down, you’ve got to burn it to the (bleeping) ground. You have to die. This is me talking to you. I’m not giving you any suggestions. You have to die for what is in you because that thing might inspire someone.”
“The (Adidas) contract said 25 (pieces) in the clothing collection. I was supposed to do a fashion show with 25 SKUs — I don’t know how that was supposed to happen. And the original talent budget was $500,000 — I don’t know how I was supposed to put a design team together for that, but luckily I was a multimillionaire rapper and I covered the rest of it. … Hooked you guys up, you know.”
“When I was at Fendi … we’d visit Stockholm, you know, on the weekends. That was in my single days. It was fun. … My exile (after cutting off Taylor Swift on stage) was pretty fun. You know, what does Kanye do when he pisses every white person off on the planet? He goes to Stockholm and dances with more white people!”
“I look at you guys and think, like, raise your hand if you got a private plane. Don’t be embarrassed. There’s definitely some people with some private planes tonight. … We’re here to make amazing product that we love that also sells, that makes money. We really like nice things. … I want a house equal or better than Calvin Klein’s house in the Hamptons.”
“I’m trying to take it full ‘Will Ferrell level drunk brother at the wedding’ level. Have I reached that level yet? Have I (bleeped) it up? Good. Here’s to (bleeping) everything up!”
Watch video of the speech below:
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