Paging Dr. Kanye West.
The 37-year-old stood on the stage and received an honorary doctoral degree from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago at its annual commencement on Monday.
Yes, Kanye West is a doctor now.
Kind of.
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“I am a pop artist, so my medium is public opinion, and the world is my canvas,” West, who dropped out of college when he was 20, said in an hour-long lecture he gave the day before the ceremony.
“‘I’m sorry’ is something that you can use a lot. It gives you the opportunity to give your opinion, apologize for it, and give your opinion again.”
“You should not be sorry for your opinions!”
“I felt my nerves a bit and I don’t feel that feeling a lot. The nerves of humility and modesty when being honored, a humanization, a reality, of being recognized, and all I thought as I sit here kinda shaking a little bit, is, I need to get rid of that feeling! I need to not be nervous.”
‘This honor is gonna make your lives easier. Two reasons; you don’t have to defend me as much [laughs] and, I’m gonna make all of our lives easier. And it’s these Floyd Mayweather belts that are needed to prove what I’ve been saying my entire life.” (VIDEO: Kanye West Just Interrupted Someone Receiving A Grammy Again)
“Where there’s the co-sign of Paul McCartney grabbing me, and saying ‘It’s OK, he doesn’t bite white people’ or The New York Times cover, or the Time most influential cover. And now a doctorate at The Art institute of Chicago. When I was giving a lecture at Oxford, I brought up this school because when I went on that mission to create in other spaces, apparel, film, performance, it would have been easier if I could have said that I had a degree at the Art Institute of Chicago. Thank you.”
The honorary doctorate is given to “influential individuals,” the school said in an email. Ones who are “remarkable examples of creative success and determination, who are often inspirations to our students, faculty, and entire SAIC community.” (RELATED: Kanye West: ‘Obama Calls The Home Phone’)