Kanye West is apparently taking a page from Akon's book and building a city in Haiti. The rapper/designer made the proclamation during his three-hour-long interview with Joe Rogan, but since the conversation aired, he has received subsequent backlash.
Yesterday, Kanye took to Twitter to clarify his plans for a Haitian "city of the future," as many had accused him of exploitation. "Just to be CLEAR: WE ARE IN ENGAGED WITH HAITI’s GOVERNMENT to make a transformational INVESTMENT to bring JOBS, DEVELOPMENT, HELP SUPPORT LOCAL FARMERS and FISHERMEN and Build a new « CITY OF THE FUTURE » in a very beautiful country," he tweeted.
West has been toying with the idea of full-scale YEEZY cities for a while now, and he already has compounds in Cody, Wyoming and Atlanta, Georgia. In Haiti, he has reportedly been given an island by the country's president, Jovenel Moïse, to develop a futuristic city and have the current farmers and other locals become land owners and thus profit from the appreciation.
"When I meet with leaders, I'm not trying to go in there and see how they can use my internet," Kanye said when speaking with Joe Rogan. "I'm not trying to go in there and buy up their land and develop it and buy it for cheap. We're going to share information."
The extent of West's relationship with the Haitian government remains to be seen, as does the likelihood of such a city being developed. Nonetheless, you can hear Kanye speaking briefly on his aspirations for Haiti below.