Kanye West, who is scheduled to speak at the Cannes Lions Music Festival later this week, also participated in a panel discussion yesterday with Steve Stoute and Ben Horowitz. The discussion covered topics such as Dr. Dre's deal with Apple, Kanye's desire to redesign Instagram, his need to always work with '#1', and the perfectionism that went into his wedding photo (the most 'liked' Instagram photo of all time).
Read some choice excerpts from the characteristically quotable Kanye below.
On spending 4 days shooting his wedding photo:
This is pissing my girl off during the honeymoon. Annie Leibovitz pulled out right before the wedding—maybe she was scared about the idea of celebrity... But I still wanted my wedding photos to look like Annie Leibovitz. Now, can you imagine telling someone who just wants to Instagram a photo, the No. 1 person on Instagram, that we need to work on the color of the flowered wall? But the fact that the No. 1 most liked photo has this certain aesthetic on it was a win for what the mission is—of raising the palette.
On Apple's acquisition of Beats By Dre:
There would have been no Beats deal without the Samsung deal. It showed the No. 1 company the importance of connecting with culture. The reason I said I didn’t like Samsung particularly is because throughout my entire life, because of how my parents raised me, I have to work with the No. 1. I can’t work with anyone but Jay Z, because he’s No. 1. I can’t be with any girl but Kim, because that’s the girl whose pictures I look at the most and get turned on by. I’m not going to represent any company but Louis Vuitton, because that’s No. 1... Samsung is not quite Apple, but it showed that Jimmy [Iovine] and Dre would be able to connect with the No. 1 influencers.
On the influence of Steve Jobs:
Steve Jobs, as everyone knows, was my biggest influence. Just seeing the way he fought to make things easier for people. After he passed, I made it my life’s mission to do what he did inside of that company,” West said. “I dream to help raise the palette and raise the taste level of a generation and also be involved with the production and distribution and advertising of that thing everyone’s begging for.
On wanting to redesign Instagram (and the rest of the internet):
The world as a whole is fucking ugly. The Internet as a whole is fucking ugly, too. But I’m not in the construction business... I said to Kevin [Systrom], why don’t you let us redo Instagram? Now, you know, Instagram is nice. It’s nice looking. I’m not knocking it. But just in general, everyone spends all of their time looking at their screens or their phones. And just as a simple task, we could clean that up.
[via]
