on bonnaroo music festival
Last time I got here, before I even arrived, they had ‘fuck Kanye’ on the motherfuckin’ port-a-potties. But this year, we gon’ piss on ‘em, on they motherfuckin’ port-a-potties.
How many of y'all don't give a fuck about what the press say? It's 2014. College Dropout came out 2004. I want y'all to know, every time I go to the studio, every time I do an interview, every time I make a motherfuckin' t-shirt, the thing I do, I give it everything I got. And when I talk that shit, it's so that you can talk that shit. If you a fan of me, you a fan of your motherfuckin' self. You can do something that'll change the world. Look at how they try to make me look. They try to make me look crazy. And the people that write that? I don't see them performing for 90,000 motherfuckers … I know you seen movies and shit. Jimi Hendrix. John Lennon. Jim Morrison. I know y'all seen movies and shit. But y'all livin' a movie right motherfucking now. Because I AM THE NUMBER ONE MOTHERFUCKING ROCK STAR ON THE PLANET.
You know, I had a meeting with Oprah Winfrey. She wanted to give me some advice. What she told me was that the corporations are scared of me. I'm like, 'Little ol' me?! Why you scared of me?! Because I tell the kids the truth?! Why y'all scared of me?!' Why they so scared of me? … Little ol' me?' Because I want peoples' minds to finally be free. What's the new cool? What's the new cool? Can you tell me what's the new cool? Because I want to hide behind that. I need some new barricade to hide behind. I need a new cool. What's the new shit out? What's the new shit out with the most commercials at the Super Bowl? Let's just stop the music and play a Bruno Mars song right now, how about that? They told me I would never play at the Super Bowl. They told me I could never play at the Super Bowl. Not until I'm super old. Not until I'm super old … They told me I would never play at the Super Bowl. They told me I would never play at the Super Bowl, at least not until I'm super old. So I think it's time—hold up, f—k that toast.
But I promise y'all tonight, as I stand here, 37-years-old, this is only the beginning. This is only the beginning … Because in all honesty, I'm not gonna lie to y'all right now, this might not come off as humble, but I'm gonna tell y'all the truth. I ain't concerned about nobody that's actually living. I know people get mad at me when I compare myself, but that's the only way I can explain what my aspirations are. When I'm talkin' 'bout Walt Disney, when I'm talkin' 'bout Howard Hughes, when I'm talkin' 'bout Henry Ford, when I'm talkin' 'bout Beethoven, when I talk about Mozart, when I talk about Shakespeare, and they all had their time on this earth. And I'm only 37. And right now I'm rockin' to 90,000, of y'all motherfuckers right now. So I ain't goin' at anybody on the radio. I'm goin' after Shakespeare. I'm goin' after Walt Disney. I'm going after Howard Hughes. I'm going after David Stern. I'm goin' after Henry Ford. I'm going after Elon Musk. Okay, he is living, but he's my boy. Whether you believe it or not … you can only achieve as high as you believe. You can only achieve as high as you believe … And just like Martin had a dream, and just like Kendrick had a dream. I believe in everything. I believe in anything. You can only believe … I can only stand here when I been fucked up so many times. Fucked up so many times … And I know that I ain't perfect. But everything I'm not makes me everything I am.
I came to Bonnaroo six months after my mom passed. Pearl Jam went on three hours long. I did the Glow In The Dark show here. My shit was going on when the motherfuckin' daylight was comin' on. They said I was runnin' late. They blared my motherfuckin' tanks, my cryo, my pyro, they wrote 'FUCK KANYE' on that shit. Y'all wrote that shit in the press. WHERE THE PRESS AT? Y'all gonna write all these motherfuckers puttin' they hands up right now? WHERE THE PRESS AT? WHERE THE PRESS AT? WHERE THE PRESS AT? Man, I'll run that shit. This is real rock n' roll. If you ever grew up on real music, the reason why you write that shit about music? I'm from the South Side of Chicago. I dreamed of R. Kelly giving me a deal.
Somebody told me that everybody on the plane was coming out here to Bonnaroo, to come check me out, and you know, it humbled me. It humbled me, and at the same time gave me confidence. It gave me a quiet confidence, a steel confidence, a feeling that it was actually gonna happen, a feeling that it was God's plan. God's plan. God's plan, something I could never understand, understand, understand, it's all in God's plan. God's plan. God's plan. God's plan … So whether you believe it or not … the fact that there are so many people here tonight, it humbles me. It humbles me—but not in the Webster's definition of humility. It humbles me in a way that gives me strength, to know that it's in God's plan. And I know I set my goals very high.