Kanye West Talks Songwriting

Posted on August 23, 2005

Kanye West's music career is on fire and he is getting a lot of big mainstream media coverage. Steve Jones at USA Today has an interesting interview with rapper Kanye West, whom he call's "hip-hop's writer-in-residence." Kanye West says he sees himself as more of a poet or writer than as a rapper.

Kanye says in the interview, "Don't I have the right to write about how things are affecting people? But rap has always had this premise that if you didn't do it, you can't rap about it. I'm more of a writer or poet than a rapper. A rapper is all about image. Being a writer, I have the right to be a person."

Kanye also talks about reaching non-readers with his music. He says, "I like to educate people. I like to be the one that can reach people who don't like to pick up a book. I like to say something that might change someone's life."

Kanye is on the cover of the August 29, 2005 issue of Time magazine. He also made Time's list of the 100 most influential people on the planet yet he doesn't seem to have his official website up and running yet. This is most unfortunate. This is another reason authors should always have their websites updated: what if Time magazine puts you on the cover, and the hordes of readers who flock to your website are left disappointed?