Kanye West’s honeymoon is over and he’s back to business. The newly married rapper appeared at the Cannes Lions Creativity Conference on Tuesday in a seminar titled, “Technology, Culture and Consumer Adoption: Learning to Read the Cultural Landscape,” to talk about his wedding to Kim Kardashian, technology and being Kanye, also known as being a genius in some circles.
Kanye’s first round of business included speaking about one of the people he admires most, the late Steve Jobs. According to Adweek, Kanye was very opinionated about the recent Beats by Dre and Apple deal, which he blamed Samsung for:
The world as a whole is f—king ugly. The Internet as a whole is f—king 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.
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.
Wait, Apple and technology business aside, Kanye is with Kim Kardashian because he thinks she’s No. 1? But what happens when she’s no longer No. 1 in his eyes?
In any event, Kanye went on to discuss how famed photographer Annie Leibovitz pretty much bailed on their wedding at the last minute. Leaving him and Kim photoshopping and manipulating their own photos to get them perfect.
This is p—sing 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.
The photo Kim posted on Instagram of their wedding ended up setting a record as the most liked post ever on the social media platform, garnering more than 2 million likes.
Kanye’s panel was filled with a few Kanye-esque quotes, which definitely make you realize either he is a genius or he likes to hear himself talk. Here are just a couple:
It’s safe to say that Kanye is becoming the E.F Hutton of hip-hop. When Kanye talks, people listen.
Yesha Callahan is editor of The Grapevine and a staff writer at The Root. Follow her on Twitter.
Like The Root on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter.