The ‘College Dropout’ revealed to MTV that he believes Bentley
was going to be “one of the number one artists in the game.”
“I see some greatness in there,” said Kanye about the man best
known as Diddy’s assistant. “My job in life is seeking out people who
are really talented and collaborating with them and applying my name with them
to bring them to a pop level. ‘Pop’ meaning people know about it, whether it be
Puff’s personal assistant and giving him the lane to be one of the number one
artists.”
“‘Kanye signed Puffy’s butler,’ that’s what the naysayers are saying,”
he continued. “At one point in time, I was working at the Gap. I’m Kanye
West. That’s what I was doing. That was my job. That’s how I was able to pay to
go to the prom, or whatever I was doing at the time. To get in this game,
[working for Diddy] is low on the totem pole of what people did to get in the
game. It’s only a chosen few. This man is a star.”
“They just gonna love it,” said Kanye about Bentley’s debut
release, C.O.L.O.U.R.S. “I’m gonna love it because of the haters… I
love the challenge. You know how it is with [Michael] Jordan,
how he just started trying other stuff? I feel like Jordan:
Let me hit this three-pointer from half-court. If I can make it, it’ll
definitely make the highlights on ESPN. Bentley is the Play of the Week.”
The first single taken from C.O.L.O.U.R.S., (short for CoolOutrageousLoversOfUniquelyRawStyle),
is the track Laid Back.
“It’s no secret I love wearing a lot of colors,” told Bentley
about the title of his forthcoming release. “I always get asked, ‘Bentley,
what’s your favorite color?’ I don’t have a favorite color, but I can tell you
it ain’t white.”
Having written rhymes since he was a young’n, Bentley revealed that
it was only after his well-received cameo on Da Band’s LP, Too Hot
for T.V., that he felt confident enough to come out as an artist.
“Anybody who is a fan of hip hop has written a rhyme at one point,”
he said. “I kept it on the back burner. …Actually, Jay-Z was like, ‘I like
your flow on Da Band album.’ I said, ‘Can I quote you on that?’ He was like,
‘Yeah’. Then the next day, Knaye called me. They didn’t even speak on it. Then
I called a good friend of mine, Andre ‘Been-Jammin’, you know him as Andre
3000, and said, ‘I don’t know where to begin.’ He said, ‘Just go in and
record.’”
As well as working with West on his forthcoming release, Fonzworth
Bentley has also been busy in the studio with Andre 3000.
“You’ll get an understanding… that I’m that funny, super-fly, incredibly
handsome, very well-educated concert master,” Bentley explained. “Or
I’m just that funny guy with the umbrella. I think people will be able to see
what’s behind the parasol.”
Bentley’s C.O.L.O.U.R.S. is out in September on West’s G.O.O.D.
Music label.
