He needs no introduction...
Oh!!! But the interview was lead by none other than Kanye West :)
As the stepson of Foreigner guitarist Mick Jones, Mark Ronson didn’t have to do anything to be famous. But unlike some other douche-bag celebrity seeds that pollute our world, he refuses to coast on his relations’ credentials. The 30-year-old DJ, producer, and co-founder of Allido Records continues to make his own mark with his second album, Version, and production work for Amy Winehouse, Christina Aguilera, and Lily Allen. So Kanye—Ronson’s friend from the old Roc-A-Fella days—catches up with him for yet another accomplishment: cramming two stars into a one interview.
Kanye West: What’s up, Mark? How you doin’?
Mark Ronson: It depends. If you go by the Jewish calendar, my year is shit, but since January it’s been all right.Kanye West: I don’t know when the Jewish calendar is.
Mark Ronson: It’s about September, which is when I went to rehab. How are you doing, man? Congratulations on your engagement.Kanye West: Thank you. You know, I look up to you in a way. Obviously, I’m going to have rich kids; I would much rather have my kid come out like Mark Ronson than a lot of these rich kids that I’ve met being out in L.A. Their parents are such great figures in pop culture, and the kids are so fucking lame.
Mark Ronson: Yeah, I think that comes somewhat from a straight English upbringing. Even a total spoiled brat dickhead will still open the door for you.Kanye West: I want my kid to be raised where they have to get on the train, it’s not just Rodeo Drive every day.
Mark Ronson: I kind of hate L.A. for that shit. People go out to L.A. and just lose the point. I’m also a little bit burnt out on rap music, to tell you the truth.Kanye West: Most people hate rap music right now. It’s in the hair-band phase.
Mark Ronson: It’s like disco. When all the records sound like instructional dance songs, telling you what to do, it becomes [Jane] Fonda-esque: Lean back, rock with it, shoulder lean. When people have to be told what to do to have a good time, that’s when I think music’s sort of lost.Kanye West: Yeah, you’re in that moment now. You just have to accept it.
Mark Ronson: I first got really into hip-hop in that classic Def Jam era. Except for the Beastie Boys, it was all pretty edgy. That’s something that I definitely miss in this era of hip-hop. Everybody seems to be in this shallow disco bubble, like half the world might not as well be going on.Kanye West: Another thing that’s funny about rap, certain rappers do that interview and say, “I got something for everybody.”
Mark Ronson: When you hear that, you know your album has nothing for anybody.Kanye West: I hate that concept. Even “Slow Jamz,” which [girls] love, I’m like, “I’ma play this Vandross/You gon’ take your pants off.”
Mark Ronson: Yeah, you’re a misogynist asshole. I always meant to tell you that.Kanye West: But because I got a Polo on, I get away with it. Where do designers get inspiration from now that it’s not really cool to dress hip-hop anymore? I make that statement being the dude that gets bashed the most for having pants that fit nicely.
Mark Ronson: Remember when Versace put bicycle locks on runway models like five years after Treach did it? Fashion people, they’re late on everything. I think it’s kind of cool that there’s this key group of kids that are coming out now that are dressing like EPMD.Kanye West: The hi-top Flights and shit.
Mark Ronson: A tight jean jacket and giant glasses. I’m actually glad to see hip-hop fashion head back to that. It’s just like anything that’s been around for 10 years and doesn’t look cutting-edge anymore.Kanye West: I respect Marilyn Manson and his artistic abilities, his wardrobe. He’s really the real deal. He is the last true rock star.
Mark Ronson: People don’t want to believe that their pop stars are the guys next door. There’s a reason that people look up to Alice Cooper and [David] Bowie and [Jimi] Hendrix—because you knew that you didn’t have the balls to be like that.Kanye West: Let me be an asshole for a minute. Even the mistakes I’ve made give me a piece of that. I thought that the Grammy [editor’s note: the Tom Ford chest action] ’fit was the biggest statement of confidence.
Mark Ronson: Or when Björk wore that [swan] dress to the [2001] Oscars. It was kind of ridiculous, but at least it made a statement: “I’m not the rest of you, walking down here in a fucking Ralph Lauren gown."Kanye West: Björk is thorough. She’s got that certain art level, that same thing I’m saying about Marilyn Manson. I read some shit, some excerpts from Amy [Winehouse]. She was bagging on people, like just coming down on any celebrity possible.
Mark Ronson: Amy’s smart and funny. She’s English when she insults somebody.
Kanye West: Do all those things go together—smart, funny, English?
Mark Ronson: I don’t know. She said Dido’s the soundtrack to death. I think Dido’s a really nice person, but that’s funny. If she insulted me in that way, I would laugh. Maybe it’s just easier to take coming out of a pretty mouth…Kanye West: Women can say anything they fucking want.
Mark Ronson: It’s refreshing, so I started to turn up the honesty in these English interviews I’ve been doing. I said something about Joss Stone and I saw it back in print, and I look like such a dick. Whether I think her liner notes are ridiculous or not, it’s not really my place to say it.Kanye West: I apologize for putting it in print this way, but when I saw Joss Stone’s first video it was very much inspiration for me to make something that looked nothing like it. [Laughs.]
Mark Ronson: Oh God, I made this girl’s life worse. Again.Kanye West: I’m not trying to bash Joss Stone. Sometimes artists need management, a little direction.
Mark Ronson: On my first record [“Ooh Wee”], Sylvia Rhone was like, “We’re going to make a video in a club and you’re going to be DJing, going 'wiggy-wiggy,' and then we’ll have Ghostface and Nate Dogg and it’ll be cool.”Kanye West: The Ghostface video didn’t capture what I think of Mark Ronson.
Mark Ronson: No, it was a cheesy video, and I just went along, like, “You guys know better than me!” And that was completely wrong.
