Kanye West, Kevin Hart and Misty Copeland make TIME’s ‘100 Most Influential People’ list

TIME magazine has unveiled its 12^th annual list of the “100 Most Influential People in the World” on Thursday, which includes celebrities, power brokers and business gurus from across the globe.

Unsurprisingly, prominent political leaders such as Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Benjamin Netanyahu all feature on the list. The U.S. President appears for the tenth time, more than any other person.

Pop culture icons like singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, Icelandic musician Björk and reality TV star Kim Kardashian also make the cut.

The list was published online earlier today but hits newsstands on Friday, with five separate covers, each featuring a member of the TIME 100: Kanye West, Misty Copeland, Bradley Cooper, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Jorge Ramos. Each appears individually on the front page and every issue contains all covers.

TIME’s unveiled its annual list of the “100 Most Influential People” in the world. The magazine has five separate covers, featuring Kanye West, Misty Copeland, Bradley Cooper, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Jorge Ramos. (Photos by Sebastian Kim for TIME)

“In our annual TIME 100 issue, we tell 100 stories of individual influence,” managing editor Nancy Gibbs writes. “But taken together, these stories are an anthem to interaction, the convergence that occurs when you harmonize a good idea.”

“The technology that connects us also connects our worlds, of art and science and business and politics,” she adds. “So when we were debating whom to approach to write for this issue, we looked for people who could speak to their subject’s influence in all its dimensions.”

In an accompanying video on the TIME website, Kanye talks about breaking the Internet and his legacy.

“I don’t care about having a legacy,” he says. “I don’t care about being remembered. The most important thing to me is like, while I’m here… is what can I do with my voice.”

Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla Motors, writes this blurb on the rapper and designer:“Kanye West would be the first person to tell you he belongs on this list. The dude doesn’t believe in false modesty, and he shouldn’t. Kanye’s belief in himself and his incredible tenacity… got him to where he is today.”

“And he fought for his place in the cultural pantheon with a purpose… He’s not afraid of being judged or ridiculed in the process. Kanye’s been playing the long game all along, and we’re only just beginning to see why.”

Other noticeable African Americans who appear on the list are comedian Kevin Hart; film director Lee Daniels; ballerina Misty Copeland; transgender actress Laverne Cox; New Orleans educator Kira Orange Jones; and Bryan Stevenson, founder of the Equal Justice Initiative.

In a TIME profile on actor, producer, and film director Lee Daniels, Oprah Winfrey writes: “He forces you, in every breath, to stay in character. To find the bone-marrow truth in every scene, no matter what it takes to get there. He’s a truth seeker. “Less is more” is his credo. “Give me 1/8 of that” is one of my favorite notes from him.”

Chris Rock says this about fellow comic Kevin Hart: “Right now, Kev is the biggest stand-up comedian in the country. I don’t even think there’s a No. 2, to be honest.”

“In Kevin’s comedy, there’s the minute observations of Jerry Seinfeld, the family-oriented storytelling of Bill Cosby and the open-wound honesty of Richard Pryor. But mostly there’s a lot of Kevin Hart.”

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