Kanye West Rejected an Apple Partnership Worth Millions

Some see Kanye West’s endeavors into other ventures like fashion as strictly a money grab, despite the numerous interviews he has had about trying to break through in the industry. For those who feel that way, get ready for a slice of humble pie.

According to a report from The New York Times’ T Magazine, West said he turned down “a multimillion dollar partnership with Apple.”

What the partnership would’ve entailed, who knows. Maybe they wanted to try the stunt with the U2 album again and felt like a Kanye West album would be received better by the hundreds of millions of people using iPhones, iPods and iPads.

I know for one I’d be grateful for a free West album.

Maybe they wanted him to come in and help them design some new product, or design some new accessories for the Apple watch.

One thing is for sure, West has a healthy respect for what Apple has done as far as design goes and has repeatedly mentioned Steve Jobs before.

Earlier this year for instance, West made a comment about how he aspired to be like Jobs, albeit in a different industry.

“I’d like to be the Steve Jobs of Gap,” West said in an interview with Style.com while saying he wants to be the creative director. “I’m talking about full Hedi Slimane creative control of the Gap is what I would like to do. And I can say this because it doesn’t conflict with my Adidas contract.”

And let’s also not forget that West went on Jimmy Kimmel and in the course of talking about his creative pursuits outside of music that he compared himself to Steve Jobs as well. Jobs was on a long list of creative types that he listed as his heroes.

He has also tried to clarify those comments since in an interview in Interview magazine.

“[I] think that when I compare myself to Steve Jobs, Walt Disney, Howard Hughes, or whoever, it’s because I’m trying to give people a little bit of context to the possibilities that are in front of me, as opposed to putting me in the rap category that the Grammys has put me in. In no way do I want to be the next any one of them. But I am the first me. So I only mention those other names to try to give people a little bit of context.”

But given how influential Jobs has been on West, it makes you wonder why he turned down Apple.

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