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Shallow Nation

June 10th, 2009 at 9:50 pm

Kanye West on The View (Video) 6-10-09

Kanye West

Kanye West appeared on The View on June 10, 2009. Watch the full interview of Kanye West on The View video here. The ten-time Grammy Award winning rapper, musician and composer was interviewed by all of the ABC The View cohosts, Barbara Walters, Whoopi Goldberg, Sherri Sheppard Joy Behar, and Elisabeth Hasselback.

He discussed a range of topics including his latest album 808s & Heartbreak and American Idol Kris Allen’s cover of Heartless his charity, The Kanye West Foundation, the charity he started with his late mother, Dr. Donda West, and has continued thereafter furthering his commitment to provide more opportunities in schools for students to learn music, by having access to musical instruction and recording equipment; opportunities which he did not have, as he reminisced about recording music at home.

For more on the Kanye West Foundation, see: Kanye West drops in to talk about education, benefit show and: SHOWing Kanye their ingenuity

Kanye West on The View talked about the album, 808s & Heartbreak, saying that in the aftermath of his mother’s death (in late 2007 due to complications after undergoing plastic surgery), he felt more of an impetus to pursue his artistic vision as, he “really didn’t have anything to lose.” He said he had striven to create an world sound with the choice of instrumentation and that he specifically chose to use Auto-Tune despite its reputation as having a “cheesy sound” to use it to make artistic music.

American Idol Kris Allen covered Kanye West’s song, Heartless, from the album, in what many consider to have been a turning point as the singer-musician went from contestant to season 8 winner. As a video clip of Allen performing the song was played, Kanye West smiled and nodded approvingly, saying, “Everybody who sings the song sings better than me.”

Kanye West praised international pop star and musician Lady GaGa and also stated that in his forthcoming tour with her, she was not an opening act, but rather that they are performing the show together.

Top Photo credit: David Shankbone

Watch the June 10, 2009 Kanye West on The View video below.

YouTube Video Link