Kanye West has compared himself to a lot of people over the years. In one moment, he’s Walt Disney. Maybe he’s Picasso. In the next, he’ll strive to be Steve Jobs. Yeezy needed to be as important as Apple or Google. Any massive, powerful innovator, Ye wanted that level of acclaim.
“I am Warhol— I am the number one most impactful artist of our generation. I am Shakespeare in the flesh. Walt Disney. Nike. Google. Now who’s gonna be the Medici family and stand up and let me create more? Or do you wanna marginalize me ’til I’m out of my moment?” he yelled at Sway in 2013.
People still look back at those provocative comparisons today. However, have you considered that Kanye West is also a lot like… Princess Diana? In a 2007 interview with British GQ, he said that he’s really not all that different from her. “People say there’s a lot of parallels with us. Like her sticking to what she believed in,” he told the publication.
Kanye West: The New Princess Diana?
Additionally, he compared his near-fatal car accident that wired his jaw shut to Princess Diana’s deadly crash. Ye attempted to bridge the ideas together with a film reference. “Being willing to die for what you believe in is the mark of a true artist,” Kanye West said. “It’s like that movie The Prestige, where he’s willing to kill himself to deliver that form of entertainment. I kill myself every night to pull this shit off.”
The situations aren’t really that similar when looking at them side by side. For Ye, he dozed off at the wheel and crashed into another vehicle. The result shattered his jaw and broke the legs of the other driver. As for Princess Diana, though, she had no control of the vehicle like Kanye West. Her chauffeur, Henri Paul, was reported to be intoxicated and under the influence of prescription drugs, causing him to lose control of the speedy car.
The comparison was inspired by the fact that Kanye West was performing at the Concert For Diana in 2007. According to him, the Princes personally requested that he perform “Diamonds From Sierra Leone” off of his classic sophomore album Late Registration. By the end of his set, he confirmed what everyone knew in person: “We killed it.” “Some days are better than others. This is a good day,” Kanye West giddily declared.
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