Kanye West New Album: Singer Talked To 'W Magazine' While Making 'Yeezus'

Kanye West allowed W Magazine into his Parisian loft during the recording of his new album Yeezus. Showing a journalistic restraint that is hard to find in the age of the blog, they held off until just now to publish it. The certifiably deranged interview was worth the wait, however.

The interview paints West attempting to reach a Faustian level of intellect in the realm of design. The article name drops architect Joseph Dirand and interior designer Axel Vervoordt  (both stop by, apparently, during the time the writer was with Yeezy) and talks up his purchases ("Le Corbusier lamps, Pierre Jeanneret chairs, and obscure body-art journals from Switzerland.") However, the real gold comes whenever Kanye opens his mouth.

West explains that "I Am A God" came out of Kanye being told he couldn't attend certain fashion shows.

From the article:

"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 eventually dials this back and admits that he was hurt by the suggestion).

However, he felt no need to defend the openly provocative title.

"I made that song because I am a god," he says "I don't think there's much more explanation. I'm not going to sit here and defend shit. That shit is rock 'n' roll, man. That shit is rap music. I am a god. Now what?" 

West also extolled on several other subjects that surround him.

On his own ineloquence:

"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 also asks the write "to turn my flea market of information into a beautiful living space.") 

On appearing on Kim's TV show:

"Oh, that's just all for love. It's simply that. At a certain point, or always, love is more important than any branding, or any set of cool people, or attempting to impress anyone. Because true love is just the way you feel."  

On his life philosophy:

"Now, I just do exactly what I want, whenever I want, how the fuck I want," West says. " 'Fuck you' is my message." 

On his percieved narcissism:

"On one end, I try to scale it back," he says. "Because I don't want to close any of the doors needed to create the best product possible. But my ego is my drug. My drug is, 'I'm better than all you other motherfuckers. Kiss my ass!' " 

What do you think of Kanye West's interview during sessions for his new album Yeezus.