Kanye Opens Up About His Mom

Kanye West dialed down the douchery for once!

West sat down with Essence magazine recently and mused over The Kanye West Foundation as well as the lessons he learned from his late mother.

Kanye generously started Loop Dreams, a branch of The Kanye West Foundation dedicated to teaching kids about hip-hop and music engineering. But why specifically hip-hop?

Kanye explains:

Hip-hop is a reflection of what’s going on. It’s a form of entertainment and it’s not steering people any differently than a [violent] movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. As a brand, I’m not defined by hip-hop. It’s just a tool that I choose to use. I could have been a poet but I chose the tool of hip-hop to get my message across because it was the loudest.

The rapper’s dedication to building a foundation that “encourages young people to stay in high school” stemmed directly from honoring his mom, the late Dr. Donda West.

“Since my mom died I’m about living to cultivate myself by traveling the world,” Kanye explained. “My mom was an educator so she brought that kind of knowledge and instilled it in me. Now, I’m keeping her dream alive through the foundation to take it to the next level.”

Touching!

[Image via PNP/WENN.]