Kanye West has revealed his plans to run for US President in 2014, but before he potentially move to the white house the rapper has indicated he might change his name.
Speaking at Fast Company’s Innovation Festival, West, 42, said “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,” he said. “It will be on the license plate.”
Soon after when he was joined on stage by his Yeezy collaborator, West shifted the conversation to his plan to run for president in 2024.
When I run for president in 2024 —” West said, to laughter from the audience. “What y’all laughing at?”
West said that if he were elected president, he would “create so many jobs.”
“I’m not going to run, I’m going to walk,” he said. “What they’re saying is Kanye’s crazy — one and three African Americans are in jail and all the celebrities are in jail also because they can’t say nothing because they’re so scared.”
West also said he believes African American voters are treated as a “demographic” alone, something he said he has experienced as an African American fashion designer.
“As black designers out of America, you can’t have an opinion,” he said. “You can only be the consumer… you can only be a demographic.”
“And that a boardroom says ‘this is the black demographic…This is who you’re supposed to vote on,” he continued. “This is what you’re supposed to buy. This is your Popeye’s chicken sandwich you’re supposed to eat on. I have seen the boardroom and back. And it’s completely the concept of a demographic.”