Kanye West: I'm The 'Voice Of This Generation'

LONDON — Kanye West is to music what Michael Jordan was to basketball _ at least that's what West thinks, in his humble estimation.

"I realize that my place and position in history is that I will go down as the voice of this generation, of this decade, I will be the loudest voice," he said in an interview on Wednesday. "It's me settling into that position of just really accepting that it's one thing to say you want to do it and it's another thing to really end up being like Michael Jordan."

The Grammy-winning rapper-producer said Justin Timberlake had a chance to be music's MVP, but hasn't put out enough material. (Timberlake's last album was in 2006, while West released a CD last year and is releasing his latest _ "808s and Heartbreak" _ on Nov. 24.)

"There were people who had the potential to do it but they went on vacation, so when Justin went on vacation I made albums," he said. "And it just came out to be that."

West, 31, said life has been difficult since his mother's death. Donda West died last November after having plastic surgery.

"I'm just going through balancing that. And I always used to have that support system, you know. My mom would be there; no matter what, she was there before everything," he said. "We were together for like 30 years. And you know now when I'm on that stage and I look out and I say, 'What am I going to do with the rest of my life?' Like when does a real life start?' Because I have sacrificed real life to be a celebrity and to give this art to people, which is great. It is great that I was able to do that, I'm not trying to shun that in any way, but it's definitely a Catch-22 and it's bittersweet."

___

On the Net:

http://www.kanyewest.com

Comments

[VINSTERDUDE]

if you have to proclaim it ~ you aint it,..

it is the people who decide these things,..l­ike those doofs who have the 'badboy' stickers on their pickem up trucks? yer sooo 'bad',.hah­a
- and lest you havent noticed,..­ask MJ,.about and Kobe and Lebron,.

losin respect fer this dude,..

[MontereyDean]

LOL

[Erin7373]

hahhahahhaha!! i agree!!

[Banji81]

Silly Kanye, delusion is for Republican­s...

[bruffin]

Lol. Seriously, his ego is sickening . . .

[ideveloper]

Cool - I never need to talk again!

From now on whenever I want to communicate something to someone I'll do it through a Kanye sound bite. His publicist should put up a web site that break down all his sound clips and map them to the appropriate occasion.

[henryhill]

ugh. spare us. he had like 2 good songs back in 2004. he can barely rap. he's a caricature of what a hip hop artrist is supposed to be. the massive ego and crazy clothes and stage just underscore this. i don't think he really believes it himself, he just has to run his mouth.

the most overrated rapper ever.

[TNFarmer]

"I realize that my place and position in history is that I will go down as the voice of this generation, of this decade, I will be the loudest voice,"...

Gee, and I thought Palin thinks she's that voice. Can there be two "greatest" voices of this decade? One is about as great as the other - - - in their own minds, at least.

[MizK]

Kanye, please come down from your pedestal and breathe some air of reality. You don't speak for me or my children.

[KUjHwk]

I laughed so hard when I read the headline, I could hardly click on the link.

Kanye, for real, stop it.

College Dropout was on point. Then West decided to open his mouth. He's never gotten another dime from me, one of his generation.

[darkblack999]

To paraphrase Peter Cook, "The British have their soul singers, and we Americans have our soul singers"..­.Accolades are given, not sprayed on the self like cheap cologne.

Kanye West will be lucky to get the gig as the voice of the Tid-E-Bowl man in a couple of years, let's hope that his galactic ego will bear up under the strain.

[Gerryalp]

Mama always said "Stupid is as stupid does"
Kanye shut up and rap!
You need to stop listening to the crowds in your head and keep your mouth shut.....

[johnpherson]

Bob Dylan went into seclusion, made deliberately non-topical, maybe even knowingly mediocre records practically sabotaging his career in attempt to distance himself from the burden of being called "the voice of his generation­." KW disqualifies himself by claiming the title, or I'd like to think that his kind of self aggrandizement would not typify a generation but upon further consideration perhaps, sadly, he is on the money.

[vincefango]

Would the voice of this generation just shut up for a bit?

[littlepuffycloud]

Oh Kanye, you keep making it more and more difficult for me to defend your musical genius when you keep saying stuff like this.

[Topgun2]

Your an arse of a generation.

[eatmypress]

HAHAHAHAHA­HAHAHAHAHA­HHAHAHAHAH­AHAHA puke.