Kanye West—rapper, music mogul, fashion designer, art collector, occasional curator, and husband to Kim Kardashian—recently granted an interview to the Sunday Times, and in typical fashion, he didn’t exactly downplay his crossover success.
“Imagine if [Leonardo] da Vinci or Michelangelo or Galileo [Galilei] were asked not to think of anything except for the one thing they first became famous for,” he said. “So da Vinci could only have one idea.”
It sounds a lot like West is comparing his career to that of Renaissance master Leonardo da Vinci, doesn’t it? Well, according to him, he’s not.
“For all haters, I’m not saying I’m da Vinci, but I feel it’s right for any human being to compare themselves to anything.”
In the past, West has likened himself to Andy Warhol, Marina Abramovic, William Shakespeare, Steve Jobs, Ralph Lauren, Jimi Hendrix, Willy Wonka, Bruce Springsteen, Anna Wintour, Howard Hughes, Walt Disney, and Jesus Christ.
He’s even made the da Vinci comparison before, stating on a 2013 episode of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”: “When I compare myself to Steve Jobs, or Walt Disney…Howard Hughes, David Stern, Michelangelo, Da Vinci, Jesus…I’m saying these are my heroes.”
So while West may not be saying that he is literally Leonardo da Vinci, because, well, that would be a hard claim to back up, it certainly seems that he is, in fact, comparing himself to the creator of such masterpieces as the Mona Lisa, The Last Supper, The Creation of Adam, and the Vitruvian Man.
“I’m an extreme speaker, and I speak through comparisons,” he told the Sunday Times.
Unfortunately for West, it looks like not everyone views him quite as highly as he views himself. Over 134,000 people have signed a petition to boot the rapper from his headline slot at Glastonbury, the British rock festival where Pussy Riot founders Nadezhda “Nadya” Tolokonnikova and Maria “Masha” Alyokhina are also slated to appear, along with the Foo Fighters, Florence & the Machine, Patti Smith, and others.