15 Of Kanye West's Craziest Quotes

Kanye West is perhaps the most confident man alive. His Twitter feed shows that he isn't afraid to speak his mind, and every interview with him is filled with memorable (and often hilarious) one-liners. His controversial quotes have made him a love-him-or-hate-him celebrity, but it seems that he just can't hold his tongue. So far, he has compared himself to God, Steve Jobs, and Walt Disney, and he even announced that he wants to run for president in 2020. (That would be interesting to see!) The truth is, no one does confidence (or cockiness) like Kanye West, and most people seem to agree; you can even go online to play “The Kanye West Self-Confidence Generator.” Some people think he's totally allowed to be this confident. After all, his first album won almost every award going, and now he is officially a rapper, songwriter, record producer, fashion designer, and entrepreneur. Others think he is arrogant and big-headed. Whatever your opinion of Kanye West, you're bound to enjoy 15 of Kanye's weirdest, cockiest, funniest tweets. Enjoy!

15 “By 50 Percent [more influential than] Stanley Kubrick, Apostle Paul, Picasso, and Escobar. By 50 percent more influential than any other human being.”

This quote is seriously memorable, but Kanye didn't actually say it on record. He went Full Kanye before his performance on Saturday Night Live because he didn't like the set. In the end, the crew ripped out the floor because it was too shiny and it was causing a strange effect on the video wall. The whole thing really annoyed Kanye and he almost walked off. In the end, Lorne Michaels calmed him down and got him to perform. End of story, right? Nope. Page Six managed to get hold of an audio recording of Kanye ranting about how important he is to the world, which included the quote above. Although the rant was unquestionably big-headed, Kanye wasn't actually insulting the show or its producers. He was actually venting at his team and friends (who we imagine don't really mind - or are at least used to Kanye's venting by now). At least it wasn't anything personal!

14 “One of my biggest Achilles heels has been my ego. And if I, Kanye West, can remove my ego, I think there's hope for everyone.”

This quote is pretty magical. You could even say it's super inspiring. And inspiring is what Kanye was aiming for, as he said it during a speech for the students of Oxford University. It's difficult to imagine a university choosing Kanye as their motivational speaker, and it might have surprised Kanye too - according to Chairman of the Oxford Guild, Abbas Kazmi it took “many hours” of negotiation for Kanye West take to the stage. Abbas Kazmi also predicted that the speech would be a “memorable event”, and he wasn't wrong - hundreds of people showed up to listen to the rapper speak at the Museum of Natural History. And of course, Kanye gave a classic Kanye performance; he arrived on the stage to loud applause and a minute-long standing ovation, before getting rid of the microphone and rearranging everything on the stage so that it looked “aesthetically better”. We can't decide which is better -- this quote or the fact that he moved the furniture on stage.

13 "I hate when I'm on a flight and I wake up with a water bottle next to me. Like, oh great, now I gotta be responsible for this water bottle.”

Kanye tweeted this a few years ago and it's become pretty infamous. We totally understand. A bottle of water requires great responsibility… no one wants to wake up to find that such a difficult task has been bestowed upon them without their permission. This tweet was a hint of great things to come. Twitter has improved greatly since Kanye West created an account and started posting 140 characters of wisdom, knowledge, and hilarity. For that reason, it's probably not super surprising that Kanye had an entire category dedicated to his tweets at the first ever O Music Awards. His tweets competed against each other to come out at the top spot, but it is tough to choose; all the tweets were equally brilliant. We really enjoy this pearl of wisdom; "dating models I had to learn to like small dogs and cigarettes.” Fair enough about the cigarettes, but who doesn't like small dogs!?

12 “I am so credible and so influential and so relevant that I will change things.”

This quote from an interview with Genius may seem like the peak of Kanye-level confidence, but it isn't actually as big-headed as it seems. He actually means that he wants to help fight for equality and fairness in the world, and he can use his celebrity platform to call out injustices. What injustices, you ask? In this situation, the injustice is celebrities winning awards when other people deserved them more. This is what Kanye said just before the quote; “But the thing is, I don't care about the Grammys; I just would like for the statistics to be more accurate. I don't want them to rewrite history right in front of us. At least, not on my clock. I really appreciate the moments that I was able to win rap album of the year or whatever. But after a while, it's like: “Wait a second; this isn't fair. This is a setup.” I remember when both Gnarls Barkley and Justin [Timberlake] lost for Album of the Year, and I looked at Justin, and I was like: “Do you want me to go onstage for you? You know, do you want me to fight?” Well, at least Kanye is willing to fight for JT as well as himself.

11 "People ask me a lot about my drive. I think it comes from, like, having [an intimate] addiction at a really young age. Look at the drive that people have to get [lucky]-to dress like this and get a haircut and be in the club in the freezing cold at 3 a.m., the places they go to pick up a girl. If you can focus the energy into something valuable, put that into work ethic."

Sure, some of the things that Kanye says are pretty hilarious or cocky (or, well, both). But this one is honestly pretty bizarre and confusing. He wants other people to try as hard at work as they do to get lucky, but it is possible that his desires and work ethic are connected. He is a highly advanced computer programmer, and when he was younger he produced his own version of Super Mario Bros, called Super Mario Bros: The Penis Remix. We can't work out if the game is creepy or cute, but it definitely is fascinating. Sadly he no longer produces games, as he is too busy with his other endeavors. What a shame. Or maybe we should be super grateful. We're not quite sure. One thing's for sure, this is one quote that we won't soon forget… but we probably won't ever forget it. For better or for worse.

10 “Yo Taylor, I'm really happy for you, I'll let you finish, but Beyoncé has one of the best videos of all time. One of the best videos of all time!"

This quote, from a few years ago, is still one of Kanye's most infamous quotes… if not the most famous thing he ever said. He created the most awkward moment in pop culture history when he interrupted Taylor Swift at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. Swift had just won the VMA for Best Female Video for “You Belong With Me”, beating Beyoncé's “Single Ladies.” As she took to the stage to give her acceptance speech, Kanye ran up and cried out his opinion. It was seriously awkward, but Kanye apologized in 2009 for his 'VMA' outburst on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno Show,” and he commented on the event once again on “Ellen” in 2010. Taylor didn't have any bad blood (ahem) about the event, saying on ABC Radio in 2009 that Kanye called her and she accepted his sincere apology. Although they made up at the time, the pair is currently feuding again over Kanye's song Famous, which references Swift and a recorded phone call. Oops!

9 “The voices in my head told me go, and then I just walked up, like, halfway up the stage… But I just didn't really want to take away from Beck's moment, or the time he's having to talk. It was kind of a joke, like the Grammys themselves.”

Kanye got the media talking after interrupting Taylor Swift's speech, but apparently he didn't learn any lessons from the experience. He nearly interrupted Beck's Grammy acceptance speech a year later, but he later said that the situation was a “misunderstanding” and a “joke." West hurried towards the stage as Beck was accepting the award for album of the year for Morning Phase, and it looked like he might try to take the microphone from him. However, he then walked away without saying anything. He later spoke to Ryan Seacrest about the event saying that he wanted to “just joke around with what happened before”, referring to when he interrupted Swift's speech. However, he also said that Beck winning the award over Beyoncé was “disrespectful to inspiration." It's hard to know if Kanye was being serious or not, but either way, we're glad he let Beck have their acceptance speech (although it probably would have been more memorable if Kanye joined in!).

8 “If I don't win, the awards show loses credibility.”

After the last two quotes, you may think we've run out of award show quotes. However, when it comes to Kanye, there are always award show quotes… and this one was the actually the first, even though it isn't as well-known as the others. This happened in 2006 at the MTV Europe Music Awards, before he gate crashed Taylor Swift's acceptance speech. Kanye won Best Hip Hop artist, but he was still upset that he didn't win Best Video. The award was presented to Justice and Simian for “We Are Your Friends”, and you guessed it - he totally interrupted their speech. West claimed that he should have won the prize for his video “Touch The Sky,” because it “cost a million dollars, Pamela Anderson was in it. I was jumping across canyons.” He went on to say “If I don't win, the awards show loses credibility,” West said. Clearly, he was very proud of the video!

7 “I believe that bad taste is vulgar. It's like cursing. I think the world can be saved through design."

This quote is downright bizarre, but apparently, it comes down to branding. Kanye believes that people (young people especially) want a more beautiful and minimalistic world, where brands help people, rather than just commanding them to buy their products. He wants a world where branding is minimalized, which isn't surprising; Kanye himself has already designed water bottles with no branding on them. “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," Kanye 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." While the quote may be strange, the sentiment behind it is honest and fair, and it is actually likely that a lot of people agree with Kanye - although they probably wouldn't phrase it in the same way!

6 “I'm the number one artist in the world right now."

Kanye said this cocky quote straight into a camera as he left the Wendy Williams radio show in September 2007, mostly due to the success of his album. "I'm the number one artist in the world right now," he said, before going on to add: "I want you to document this right here, what I'm saying right now. I am the number one human being in music. That means any person that's living or breathing is number two. Because I'm number one now.… You are in the presence of the champion. Bow in the presence of greatness." Although he was feeling pumped up at the time, he still agreed with the sentiment when he calmed down a few days later. Kanye said this to GQ about the quote: "People got to look at the concerts, look at the sales, look at the impact, look at the songs, look at the connection with pop culture. I mean… it's obvious. It's almost I don't even need to state it. It's so true it's obvious. It's not even arguable." Fair enough!

5 “I don't even listen to rap. My apartment is too nice to listen to rap in.”

Although Kanye claims that he is one of the greatest rappers of all time, he doesn't actually like to listen to rap music when he is at home. Which is pretty interesting. But at the same time, you don't want to take work home with you so I guess he kind of makes sense. After this quote was published, Kanye decided to post on his website to clear up any confusion. Here is his explanation: “BUT IF I'M IN THE CRIB CHILLING AFTER RAPPING ON STAGE EVERY DAY OF MY LIFE… NO I'M NOT TURNING ON NO RAP MUSIC. (INCORRECT GRAMMAR INTENDED) IF SOMEBODY WORKS IN STARBUCKS THEY DON'T DRINK COFFEE AT THE CRIB." We can't argue with that - it totally makes sense. Although we are pretty sure that being a barista would mean that you're pretty into coffee, right? So that part of the quote might not be 100 percent accurate. But that's part of its total and utter beauty, right?

4 “I'm a designer. A musician. A manager. The media tries to dehumanize [sic] people who believe in themselves.”

Self-confessed genius Kanye West said this during his headline set at Wireless in London. While the sentiment is fair, we're pretty sure that the word 'dishumanise' doesn't exist. The star, who appeared with a chain metal mask covering his head and face, stopped his set to talk about his projects and the media's treatment of him, saying: “They take the idea of celebrity and make me feel like I'm stupid or something. Yet if you are creative and you want to create more, this is exactly what I've been fighting for…  It's about Kanye's dreams.“ Perhaps unsurprisingly, the crowd were not happy about the interrupted show, and they started to boo Kanye. This didn't deter Kanye, who kept talking for 15 minutes. Apparently, the crowds could be heard booing and chanting “off, off, off”, while one audience member shouted: “Shut up Kanye, you're wasting your set when you could be singing a decent song.” Ouch!

3 "I feel like I'm too busy writing history to read it."

This is perhaps the weirdest Kanye West quote because Kanye said it in a 2009 Reuters article… about a book that he wrote! Only Kanye can say such things. So while he personally doesn't read books, he has written one that he would like other people to buy and read. Right…  West also said: "Sometimes people write novels and they just be so wordy and so self-absorbed. I am not a fan of books. I would never want a book's autograph. I am a proud non-reader of books. I like to get information from doing stuff like actually talking to people and living real life.” We can't argue with this one; not many people want the book's autograph - most prefer the autograph of the writer. Kanye's dislike of books may surprise some, as his late mother Donda West was a university English professor before she retired to manage her son's music career.

2 "I'm going to be the Tupac of clothing."

Kanye said this memorable quote when his partnership with Nike ended and he started making clothes with Adidas. In interviews about the move, he ranted about how many corporate and fashion teams refuse to partner up with him. He also complained that they didn't take him seriously enough. So why did he leave Nike? In an interview with Angie Martinez on Hot 97, Kanye said his issues with Nike were because they weren't pushing his Air Yeezy sneakers enough. He also complained that they were unwilling to offer him royalties, saying: “Michael Jordan has 5%, that business is $2 billion. He makes a $100 million dollars a year off of 5% royalties. Nike told me we can't give you royalties because you're not a professional athlete. I told them, 'I go to the Garden and play one-on-no-one. I'm a performance athlete.'” We've got to admit that Kanye is probably great at playing one-on-no-one.

1 “Just imagine if I woke up one day and I was wack. What would I do then?"

This brilliant quote comes from a Guardian interview back in 2005. Unsurprisingly, the interview was named “Interview with Kayne West: The cockiest man in rap”. Clearly, Kanye knows that he is a talented artist and he also seems to realize that he can be cocky and arrogant. So why does Kanye love to say things that get the media in a stir? According to Kanye, the main reason he does it is for the shock factor and to add value to his interviews. He said to the Guardian: “Earlier today I said a lot of things but those cocky-sounding statements just look better in black and white. That's why they always use them. And I always give it to them. That's why my interviews are so valued. That's why I should get paid. That's perfect!" For our own sake, we hope that Kanye doesn't wake up one day feeling "wack." Twitter wouldn't be the same without Kanye's bizarre, weird and glorious quotes.