Kanye West Tells Joe Rogan He Doesn’t ‘Love the Idea’ of Hype Culture on ‘The Joe Rogan Experience’ Podcast

The long-awaited conversation between Kanye West and Joe Rogan on “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast arrived Saturday. During the talk — which covered a seemingly endless amount of topics — the Yeezy creator revealed his thoughts on hype culture.

“We talk about hype culture and shoes being sold on the resale market and Yeezy lives in that place. But I don’t like the idea, I don’t love the idea that some of the reason people buy is just for hype culture or ‘You ain’t got this,’ or ‘I got this colorway and you don’t have it,’ that type of mentality,” West told Rogan during the conversation, which lasted almost three hours. “I’m an essentialist, I’m a minimalist, and I have to, I will the fully A to Z our existence version to existence.”

West explained his feelings on hype culture while revealing design insights to Rogan on the Yeezy Foam Runner, an atypical laceless look that fans have likened to the aesthetics of Crocs. The first iteration of the shoe, dubbed “Ararat,” was subject of a surprise release in June via Yeezysupply.com. The style came with a $75 price tag.

Also during the conversation, West revealed insights on the Yeezy Foam Runner including how long they take to make (25 minutes) and that he wants the Yeezy Foam Runner to cost $20. “I’m going to make this shoe be $20,” West told Rogan. “Money isn’t real so that means the world should be eventually free so I’m going to manifest the world being free.”

Rogan offered a counterpoint to West’s thoughts on hype culture, stating it could result in people subscribing to his other ideas.

“One of the good things about the hype culture is if people get into your products they’re going to get into you, they’re going to get into your ideas, and all of these ideas that you have will become a part of their thought process, they’ll start thinking about it,” Rogan told West during the conversation. “They’ll go, ‘Hey, he’s got some great points.’ If people really get into your s**t they’re also going to really get into your ideas.”

Aside from hype culture and Yeezys, West and Rogan spoke at length about a multitude of topics, with an emphasis on West’s current presidential bid.

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