Kanye West, rapper, fashion guru, producer, now tech genius? “If people are saying you’re wrong, its probably a good sign you’re a genius.” With quotes like that, who can argue with him? West’s latest opinion filled rant targets Samsung and praises Apple. That should come as no surprise as West has compared himself to Steve Jobs, even to the extent of saying that he is the next Jobs.
Kanye West has said before that he is the greatest, he survives on the belief that he is the best at everything he does and won’t settle for any less. West even recently said that he is “the number one mo************* rock star on the planet!” Which is the basis for his recent comments that slam Samsung. West recently said that “Samsung is not quite Apple.” Which may be news to some of you, however West prides himself on being right-not a follower. However it is unknown if West is aware that Apple uses Samsung chips in their smartphones, or that Apple and Samsung are constantly in court disputing patent claims. Those patent claims suggest that Apple fears Samsung-at least that’s the opinion of some people. So how much does West actually know about tech?
It appears that West’s comments stem from a very basic idea that whom you work with is important and decides if you’re the best or not. According to West’s genius logic, Apple bought Beats Audio because Jay-Z worked with Samsung. However, if you follow the rappers long history of crazy “genius” rants, you would know that West is a big fan of Steve Jobs. West even said, “I am Steve Jobs” in a rant where he also said he was Walt Disney, Henry Ford, David Stern and more. Which begs the question, does he really believe the things that come out of his mouth, or is this all for attention?
Recently West attended the Cannes Advertising Festival where he attempted to clear up the foggy statement he made about Samsung. “The reason I said I don’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[Lovine] and Dre would be able to connect with the No. 1 influencers.” That statement alone seems to contradict itself at some points. Kanye says that Jay Z is No. 1, so wouldn’t that make Samsung No. 1? Or is Dre, the former owner of Beats No. 1? It is truly unclear. After making comments about Samsung compared to Apple and whom they work with, West went on to criticize a very popular app-Instagram.
According to West, Instagram could use a little “clean-up” in order to better accommodate the millions of people who spend most of their time looking at their screens. “I said 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 it’s 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.” It is unclear what West has in mind for how Instagram should look, but it’s possibly that it would have Kim Kardashian as the app logo. Still West produces some good music-most of the time.
Kanye West is praised for producing some great music, and he rightfully deserves that praise. However, it is unclear what the people think about his sense of business understanding and tech knowledge. So we ask you, what do you think about Kanye West’s ideas on Samsung and Apple? Does it make sense to you that Type A companies should only work with type A people? What about Instagram, does West have a point that it needs to be cleaned up? Let us know down below.