Yeezus take the wheel!
Kanye West is serious about becoming president of the United States.
While speaking at the fifth annual Fast Company Innovation Festival in New York City on Thursday, the record-breaking rap artist talked up his political ambitions, business acumen and plans to change his name during a jaw-dropping panel discussion with Yeezy footwear designer Steven Smith.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, it was the pair’s first public outing together.
“They call him the dad of the dad’s shoes,” he said of the veteran designer.
And West definitely maximized the moment, referring to his clothing company as “the Apple of apparel.”
Laughter erupted when the 42-year old Def Jam Records act mentioned his political ambitions.
“When I run for president in 2024,” laughs were heard throughout the audience. He responded: “What y’all laughing at? We would create so many jobs!”
“I’m not going to run, I’m going to walk,” he continued. “When you see headlines saying Kanye’s crazy —one in three African-Americans are in jail and all the celebrities are in jail also because they can’t say nothing, they got no opinion, they’re so scared!”
Elsewhere during the appearance, the Chicago native unveiled his new Yeezy sneaker —promising a boom to the American workforce.
“Within the next two years, our goal is to bring the manufacturing back to America, South America and North America,” he said, “and bring it back stateside, also to present jobs for people back here.”
His Yeezy headquarters are in Cody, Wyo., where he recently purchased a 4,000-acre ranch for $14 million, along with other properties.
The 21-time Grammy Award winner hit the top of the Billboard 200 chart for a ninth consecutive time with his latest release, “Jesus Is King.” The 38-minute opus is West’s first faith-based project and the very first to debut atop five Billboard album charts concurrently, including Billboard 200, Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, Top Rap Albums, Top Christian Albums and Top Gospel Albums.
The “Gold Digger” lyricist —who has a net worth estimated at $240 million —isn’t pleased with how Forbes ranked him (as fourth) on its list of highest paid hip-hop acts of 2019.
Salty about not being considered a billionaire —the Yeezy line will reportedly bring in over $1.5 billion in sales this year —West has plans to take matters into his own hand, also gave a nod to slain civil rights icon Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
“Martin Luther King didn’t get killed because he had a dream; he had something else he was going to talk about,” he said. “He talked about black empowerment, economic empowerment.”
“When I did Forbes, I showed them a $890 million receipt and they still didn’t say ‘billionaire,’” he continued. “They don’t want us to know that we can buy land; they don’t want us to have the 100% ownership (that) I have at Yeezy. …When people say it’s crass to call yourself a billionaire, I say I might legally change my name to Christian Genius Billionaire Kanye West for a year until y’all understand exactly what it is… It will be on the license plate.”