As I previewed yesterday, Kanye West went to Oxford to give a lecture to some-odd 1800 students, faculty and journalists. The lecture/discussion was organized by the Chairman of the Oxford Union Guild, who told journalists that he spent “many hours negotiating against the odds” to get Kanye to come to Oxford. Really? It took that much effort? Anyway, Oxford’s The Tab live-tweeted Yeezy’s speech and the tweets are… works of art. Some highlights, taken entirely from @TheTabOxford (SPOILER: Kanye was dropping some Yeezy-style Zen Koans on everybody):

His college experience: “If I could have done it again I would have gone to the Art Institute over the American Academy”

He could have been Picasso: “My goal, if I was going to do art, fine art, would have been to become Picasso or greater. That always sounds so funny to people, comparing yourself to someone who has done so much, and that’s a mentality that suppresses humanity”

Civilization: “We have the resources as a civilisation to make a utopia, but we’re led by the most greedy and the least noble”

Obama calls him: “Obama calls the home phone, by the way.”

We are family: “People ask me how my daughter is doing. She’s only doing good if your daughter’s doing good. We’re all one family.”

Race is like crabs: “We have the ability to approach our race like ants, or we have the ability to approach our race like crabs.”

Race and class: “We’ve had Cosby Show, Obama’s president, Beyonce’s great…that’s passed. But you’re still taught the division by class, especially in UK.”

Humble-bragging: “Chris Rock & everyone else at every single media publication called My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy the best album of the last 25 years. One of the best thing about the album was Nicki Minaj, and that she kicked my ass, on my own song, on the best album of the last 25 years. I was exiled from my own country, came back with my magnum opus, and I was beat by a girl.”

His reputation: “People say I’ve got a bad reputation. I think I’ve got the best reputation in the building.”

This is amazing: “Beauty has been stolen from the people and is being sold back to them as luxury.”

This is also amazing: “Clothing should be like food. There should never be a $5000 sweater. You know what should cost $5000? A car.”

[From The Tab Oxford Twitter]

Is Kanye a megalomaniac? For sure. Is he on the line between genius and insanity? Kind of. Does he need to settle down? Yes. But I have to say, I enjoy him. I really do. No other celebrity, rapper, musician, actor, whoever would have been able to go the Oxford Student Union and give the kids these kinds of quotes. God help me, I am a Yeezy Apologist.

Photos courtesy of WENN, Pacific Coast News.