Kanye West dropped into Cannes to share some of his thoughts on the cultural landscape, building brands and investing in breakthrough creative ideas. He said the internet is the new Rome and he wants the creative industries to clean it up.
Although he admitted he wasn’t in the business of writing self-help books, he doled out some tips for advertisers, creative and brands and called on the collective creative force of the Cannes Lions delegates to “clean up the ugly internet”.
“On the whole the world is an ugly place, and on the whole the internet is fucking ugly. Everyone spends the majority of their time looking at their phone and as a simple task we can all clean that up we can collectively collaborate ... right here in Cannes we have enough people with good connections and good sensibility to clean that up. People talk about the future and flying cars but that is what we can do in Cannes right now,” he said.
“Rome wasn't built in a day but the internet is our new Rome. But it's time for the best visual artists and content creators to be empowered. I joked with Spike Jonze about talking about likeability – and it was like - empower the greatest content creators – or fuck you.."
West made a last minute appearance on the Cannes Lions stage while in town accompanying his wife Kim Kardashian to a Daily Mail party this evening (17 June). He spoke alongside Translation CEO and music exec Steve Stoute, Bloomberg’s Stephanie Ruhle and venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz’s Ben Horowitz and touched on topics ranging from creative entrepreneurs, the digital landscape and the changing role of celebrities in media, marketing and business.
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