Those Crazy Kanye West Interviews Just Keep Coming

To borrow an overused line, there are a few things that you can count on: death and taxes. Oh, and some f**kin’ insane quotes whenever Kanye grants an interview to a magazine. His New York Times interview from the other week has already been dissected ad infinitum, but now there’s a new article in the latest W Magazine that’s equally entertaining, and also contains references to Le Corbusier lamps (you can never have too many references to Le Corbusier lamps). And away we go!

–

He wrote ‘I Am A God’ because someone banned him from some Paris Fashion Week shows

It turns out this song was inspired by a serious diss—not from another rapper but from a major fashion designer. Last fall, a few days before Paris Fashion Week, West was informed that he’d be invited to a widely anticipated runway show only on the condition that he agree not to attend any other shows.

“So the next day I went to the studio with Daft Punk, and I wrote ‘I Am a God,’ ” West says. “Cause it’s like, Yo! Nobody can tell me where I can and can’t go. Man, I’m the No. 1 living and breathing rock star. I am Axl Rose; I am Jim Morrison; I am Jimi Hendrix.” West is not smiling as he says this, and his voice is getting louder with each sentence. “You can’t say that you love music and then say that Kanye West can’t come to your show! To even think they could tell me where I could and couldn’t go is just ludicrous. It’s blasphemous—to rock ’n’ roll, and to music.”

–

He can be self-deprecating! Well, kinda.

“God’s little practical joke on me — as an intellect who doesn’t like to read a lot — is like, I’ll say some superphilosophical shit, but I’ll say it the wrong way,” he says, laughing. “I’ll use the wrong word, so it goes from being really special to completely retarded.”

–

He teases Kim Kardashian’s mum a lot. Or “Great job, belt loops!”

[Kris] Jenner’s rapport with West evinces equal parts jokey affection and in-law awkwardness. He plays her some of his unfinished songs, including ‘Awesome’, which is clearly about Kim. When she exclaims, “Great job!” West doesn’t find it as flattering as Jenner evidently intended. He raises his eyebrows. “Great job?” he says and sets off on a comic riff that cracks up everyone in the room. Toasting with his champagne glass, he says, “Great job, Baccarat, for making a glass that can hold liquid!” He looks down at his waist. “Great job, belt loops, for keeping my pants up!” Jenner laughs off the mockery but soon is ready to leave.

–

“F**k you” is his message

Last year, when someone threatened to go public with a recording he’d made of himself and an unidentified woman in a hotel room, West was on the verge of releasing his own copy of it, to neutralize any threat of extortion. “For the most part, I’d rather people have one of those home videos than some of the paparazzi photos that get published,” he says. “At least I recorded the shit myself. That tape couldn’t have hurt me in any way if it came out—it could only have helped.” He finally decided against releasing it, but don’t be surprised if he changes his mind. “Now, I just do exactly what I want, whenever I want, how the fuck I want,” West says. “ ‘Fuck you’ is my message.”

–

I think there’s a lesson in there for all of us. (I have no idea what the lesson is.)