Kanye West - Oxford Lecture lyrics

I’ll take one question i wanted
To vibe off an idea, and then I
Can riff off of that…they said I’ve
Got 20 minutes or so, i might go longer

OK, everyone please be completely quiet
Because i can literally hear a whisper
And it’ll throw off my stream of
Consciousness, and when I get my
Stream of consciousness going
That’s when I give the
Best, illest quotes literally
A whisper can throw it off

Today was the first time I realised
If I could have done it again I
Would have gone to the Art Institute
Over the American Academy of Art
I would have researched where I could have
Got the best and the strongest education

And I’m sure this will end up online
So I don’t want to diss anyone at
The American Academy, I’m sure it’s equal to
The Art Institute of Chicago by now
But at the time I was going I
Would look around at the work
Of the class and not feel inspired by the
Teachers, and I kinda, the
Idea of being a fine artist
That’s a really difficult
Profession to get into, to be respected in
To make money at maybe the goal
For some of the people was
Just to work at an advertising agency
Or at a record label

My goal, if I was going to do art, fine art
Would have been to become Picasso or greater

That always sounds so funny to people
Comparing yourself to
Someone in the past that has done so much
And in your life you’re not even
Allowed to think that you
Can do as much that’s a
Mentality that suppresses humanity
Some of you here probably remember the night
When the Donda tweets came through
Me and I started talking about professions
That you guys are going
Into, that seemed they had nothing to
Do with a rapper i was
Talking about a band of thinkers that
Could remove religion, race, gender
And somehow come together to find
Solutions for a broken planet

We have the resources as a
Civilization to find a utopia
But we’re led by the most
Greedy and the least noble

What I notice about creatives is that
And one
Of the reasons why I get into trouble
Is, not only do I want to design video
Games, or make music, or ride bikes
I think one of the most important things to
My ability to create so much in the
Past 30 years is my desire to play
Sports i approach creativity like a sport
Where if I have a drawing I react just like a
Jock: LOOK AT THE FUCKING
Drawing right there yeah!

We’re all creatives here
We’re all born artists
Some people are artists of business
Some people are artists of composition

We were taught to hide our black
Fingernail polish and put our head
Down in the back of the class
And not notice out of
Fear that someone might laugh at one
Of our ideas – that our
Idea could become a mockery or
A failure in some way

There’s a Bible saying
‘No weapon formed against me
Shall prosper’ recently I’ve
Been doing interviews and I’ve had to
Go back to this verse because
I don’t think there’s
A living celebrity with more
Weapons formed against them
But I also don’t think there’s
One more prosperous so what
Weapons have prospered? The smoke and
Mirrors of other opinions

I was sitting with Steve McQueen, he shot the
Visuals for All Day two days ago
It’s completely different to the Brit awards

So it doesn’t get taken out of context
I’m going to
Use the word ‘like’ i’m not saying it is
I’m using it as a comparison
So people that want to
Say ‘Kanye goes to Oxford
And tells everyone blah
Blah blah’ and I’m not telling
You this i’m telling
You what I told Steve McQueen in private

What I said was The Matrix is like
The Bible of the post-information age

I compared it like
When the hundred guys come at Neo, those are
Opinions, that’s perception
That’s tradition attacking people
From every which
Angle possible if you have a
Focus wide and master senses
Like Laurence Fishburne and you have
A squad behind you
You literally can put the
World in slow motion

It’s still February, right?
(security guard shakes his head
Everyone laughs)

By the way
I don’t know the days of the week i
Just go to exactly when my appointment is

We’d just look at each other and say
It’s still February for the sheer
Mount of work that we
Were able to put into the world some of the
Stuff had been worked on for years coming
Months coming but nonetheless they came
Back to back to back to back answering every
Crazy interview question, blocking every
Shot, catching every rebound aside from
The right I don’t have to give my opinion
Publicly about artists
I probably would have been batting 2000
I know that’s incorrect also
This humanity that I talk about, this
Civilization that I talk about
This future utopia I talk about…it
Can only happen through collaboration

I love Steve Jobs, he’s my favorite person
But there’s one thing that
Disappoints me when Steve
Passed he didn’t give the
Ideas up that’s kinda
Selfish you know that Elon’s like ‘yeah
Take these ideas’ maybe there are
Companies outside of Apple
That could work on them and push humanity
Forward maybe the stock brokers
Won’t like that
The stock holders wouldn’t like that idea
But ideas are free and you
Can’t be selfish with them

I think that progression of mind with the
Advent of a human being named Drake
(laughs, smirks, crowd laughs) you know
This idea of holding onto a number 1
Spot and then you get this
Guy that comes and blows out
The water every number
1 of any band ever be it me
Or Paul McCartney

I understand that I’m a servant
And with my voice, with my ability to build
Relationships with amazing people, speak to
Amazing people call Elon Musk
Out of the blue, or call
Obama out of the blue…he
Calls the home phone, by the way

I work with an artist
Called Vanessa Beecroft
And she bought my daughter some toys

I’d see toys that some people would
Buy for my daughter and
I’d say this toy isn’t quality
I don’t want my
Daughter playing with this there’s not
Enough love put into this
This is just manufactured with
The will to sell
And not the will of inspiration

Vanessa is very focused, she’s like my eyes
She’s a piece of my brain she bought my
Daughter these three wolves, knowing the
Whole collection, that it’d play
With the song Wolves, and based
On this concept and when my
Daughter saw these wolves
I’ve never seen her so happy
She was going so crazy, she was grabbing one
She was riding on top of one…I’ve never seen
Her happier than this moment that level
Of happiness seems to be the thing
That we’re fighting for every
Day, that we’re trying to buy
Back, trying to work for
Especially in America

In America people really do wear
$3000 shirts for real here
And in Stockholm people will
Be like ‘oh dude, it’s a $3000 shirt’

I’m assuming I’m probably wearing a
$2000 shirt but I
Got it for free from the designer so

We’ve been sold a concept of joy
Through advertising, through car advertising
Through fashion branding
It’s not the concept of time, time with
Your family, time with your friends
The little time that we do have on
Earth and what we do with
That it was somehow sold to us
Through a Gucci bag or something

Time is the only luxury it’s the only
Thing you can’t get back if
You lose your luggage – I’m not
Gonna say the obvious brand
Of luggage that I’d normally say because
I’ve got a meeting with them
Soon – if you lose your
Expensive luggage at the airport
You can get that back you
Can’t get the time back

It feels like people do everything in life
To get this BMW, this Benz, to get
This townhome, to get 25 kids exactly one
Of them has to be small, y’know!
And you’re looking for this moment where
You sit in your BMW after
All the work you’ve done and
All the accolades you get
And you somehow think you’re gonna
Get that level of joy
That my daughter had when she
Received those wolves and
When you’re sitting in traffic in your BMW
It’s something that feels empty
To everyone who
Reaches that point this concept of
The selfish human, this idea of
Separation by race, or gender
Or religion, or age, or my
Favourite thing to hate, class

People say it takes a village to raise a
Child people ask me how my daughter
Is doing she’s only doing good if your
Daughter’s doing good we’re all one family

We have the ability to approach
Our race like ants
Or we have the ability to
Approach our race like crabs

This is a generation that is
Far less racist – yes
Small remnants remain of even thinking of
Calling something of a racial slur

White people that listen to
Rap say ‘nigger’…in
The privacy of their own home

You guys have been taught
Without you knowing, ways to
Separate yourselves from each other
If you’re separated, you
Can be easily controlled if
You’re too busy pointing
Fingers at each other, rather
Than holding hands
You can’t get anything done

You know, Chris Rock called my album
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy…well
Chris Rock and everyone else at every single
Media publication called My
Beautiful Dark Twisted
Fantasy the best album of the last 25
Years this only came through collaboration

One of the most memorable things
About MBDTF was Nicki Minaj, and
The fact that she kicked my
Ass, on my own song
On one of the best albums…the best album
– I’m just saying what the
Critics said – of the last 25
Years the best album of
The past 25 years that I spent a year and a
Half making, out there i was
Exiled from my country, it was a personal
Exile, but exile to come back and
Deliver my magnum opus of
A work, and to be outshined…to
Be beat by a girl, basically

This was necessary i think it was one of the
Most important points of working
On that album, was
To not stop her from her
Moment because of how
Good she is just think of a comparison
If you think about why did it take
So long for the new Yeezys to
Come out? Why did I have to leave
One group and go to another
Group? Why did that group not want to
Speak to me? I think the
Yeezys I was doing over there were
Comparable to that Nicki Minaj verse
Because these guys were like ‘we’re
Worrying about this shoe
We’re gonna put it on this celebrity’ and
The head’s son would come
And say ‘my favourite
Shoe is the Yeezy’ and it’s like ‘ahhh
I can’t hear about these YEEZYS
Anymore!’ like everyone talking about
Nicki’s verse
‘I can’t hear about this verse anymore!’
It was gonna work for her anyway
But let’s just say that in some
Way in helped give her exposure she
Was able to go on
And become a successful, and fly
And run, and dream
And provide and it was not
Locked because of my career

One of my biggest Achilles heels has
Been my ego and if
I, Kanye West, the very person
Can remove my ego
I think there’s hope for everyone

When I talk about collaboration
And the creative process, the best idea wins

I’m proud of the consistency of the
Performances I’ve done since I’ve been
Out here and it comes from four
Would-be egomaniacs coming out and
Being forced to work together the best
Lighting guy on the planet
The best staging guy, the best
Video guy, another staging guy
A guy with a laptop for no reason…To be
Able to deliver, back to back to back
Extremely successful, inspiring
Groundbreaking, visual, visceral
Creative moments that otherwise would
Have been challenged
And the kid from Chicago screaming
From the top of the stage for 40
Minutes in a row i’ve had
To pull that card out a few
Times not particularly screaming
But remember, i will scream

My momma taught me that if I
Was in a grocery store
And I’m by myself and a
Stranger grabbed my hand
Scream at the top of your fucking
Lungs if I’m at an
Awards show and a stranger grabs my hand and
They say so we’re going to use these
Moving lights, or we’re gonna play the music
Right now before we define the look
Or we’re gonna cut the TV
Cameras in a traditional way
I’ll scream at the top of my fucking lungs

People say I have a bad
Reputation i think I’ve got
The best reputation in the building
They want you to
Have a reputation of tucking your
Black nail polish into your
Pockets and sitting in the
Corner of the class
And not fighting for your ideas out
Of fear of being ridiculed

That’s one of my favourite
Ones…to be called crazy

I remember when I was young and saw my
Dad working on computers and the guy
He was working with ended up being a
Bad guy and the guys that
Helped him, that he had the voice to
Find, didn’t have the same motivation, a
High enough skill set to match up
To his vision, to his dream
For it to be considered
To be a success but the success is that
His successor will be successful
In his lifetime
You could say "But you are successful?" i’m
Successful in learning about the beauty that
Is afforded to rich people but in learning
That, being brought up, middle class
It’s something
That is beating out of my chest ‘Wait
A second, I was middle class
And I didn’t get to see none of this shit!’

Let’s have an NBC telethon moment
And say that beauty has been stolen
From the people and is
Being sold back to them under
The concept of luxury!

It’s illegal to not wear clothes
And also possibly too cold that means someone
Is imposing an idea on you
That should legally have to do! Clothing
Should be like food there should
Never be a $5000 sweater you know what should
Cost $5000? A car should be $5000 and
You know who should work on the car?
The people that work on the $500
000 cars all the best talent in the
World needs to work for the people
And I am so fucking serious about
This concept that I will stand
In front of anyone and fight for it
Because I was 14 and middle
Class i know what it felt like
To not get what I have

People say to me ‘you’re successful
What are you crying about?’ i’m
Crying about the people i’m crying
About their daughters our daughters
As one family what
Good is it? What good is anything
That everyone can’t have? Every ism
They think we’re done with racism what
About elitism, what about separatism
What about classism? That’s all