Kanye West: "I'm Minimalist In A Rapper's Body"

Kanye Westhas opened up about his forthcoming album Yeezus, addressing its "minimalist" sound in an interview with the New York Times.

 

The rapper - who previously revealed that Daft Punk, Kid Cudi and Bon Iver's Justin Vernon feature on the LP - said of the recording process: "Architecture - you know, this one Corbusier lamp was like, my greatest inspiration.

 

"I lived in Paris in this loft space and recorded in my living room, and it just had the worst acoustics possible, but also the songs had to be super simple, because if you turned up some complicated sound and a track with too much bass, it's not going to work in that space. 

 

"This is earlier this year. I would go to museums and just like, the Louvre would have a furniture exhibit, and I visited it like, five times, even privately. And I would go see actual Corbusier homes in real life and just talk about, you know, why did they design it?

 

 

"They did like, the biggest glass panes that had ever been done. Like I say, I'm a minimalist in a rapper's body. It's cool to bring all those vibes and then eventually come back to Rick [Rubin], because I would always think about Def Jam."

 

Speaking of his work with Rubin, West continued: "For him, it's really just inside of him. I'm still just a kid learning about minimalism, and he's a master of it.

 

"It's just really such a blessing, to be able to work with him. I want to say that after working with Rick, it humbled me to realise why I hadn't - even though I produced Watch the Throne; even though I produced Dark Fantasy - why I hadn't won 'Album of the Year' yet."

 

As for the record's stripped-back sound, Kanye revealed: "This album is moments that I haven't done before, like just my voice and drums. What people call a rant - but put it next to just a drumbeat, and it cuts to the level of, like, Run-DMC or KRS-One.

 

"The last record I can remember - and I'm going to name records that you'll think are cheesy - but like, J-Kwon, 'Tipsy'. People would think that's like a lower-quality, less intellectual form of hip-hop, but that's always my number one.

 

"There's no opera sounds on this new album, you know what I mean? It's just like, super low-bit. I'm still, like, slightly a snob, but I completely removed my snob heaven songs; I just removed them altogether.

 

"It's like trap and drill and house. I knew that I wanted to have a deep Chicago influence on this album, and I would listen to like, old Chicago house. I think that even 'Black Skinhead' could border on house, 'On Sight' sounds like acid house, and then 'I Am a God' obviously sounds, like, super house."

 

Kanye West's Yeezus is due for release on June 18.