The Most Gag-Worthy Quotes From Kanye West's New York Times Interview

Kanye West gave a ridiculous, gag-worthy, self-important new interview to Jon Caramanica of The New York Times.

In the article titled "Behind Kanye's Mask," Caramanica talks to the rapper about his new album "Yeezus" out Tuesday, his place in the music industry, impending fatherhood and "Keeping up with the Kardashians."

The interview spanned several hours over three days and resulted in a lengthy, revealing piece inside the unique mind of Kanye West.

So you don't have to read through the entire 5-page article, we've pulled out the 20 most ridiculous Kanye quotes (yes, there were that many legitimate ones) that everyone will be talking about today:

1. "If anyone’s reading this waiting for some type of full-on, flat apology for anything, they should just stop reading right now."
2. “I was on the junior team when I was a freshman, that’s how good I was. But I wasn’t on my eighth-grade team, because some coach — some Grammy, some reviewer, some fashion person, some blah blah blah — they’re all the same as that coach.”
3. “You know, if Michael Jordan can scream at the refs, me as Kanye West, as the Michael Jordan of music, can go and say, ‘This is wrong.’”
4. "I don’t know if this is statistically right, but I’m assuming I have the most Grammys of anyone my age, but I haven’t won one against a white person."
5.  "I am so credible and so influential and so relevant that I will change things."
6. "I don’t have some type of romantic relationship with the public. I’m like, the anti-celebrity, and my music comes from a place of being anti."
7. "[I knew]  I was going to be a big star. At the time, they used to have the Virgin music [stores], and I would go there and just go up the escalator and say to myself, 'I’m soaking in these last moments of anonymity.' I knew I was going to make it this far; I knew that this was going to happen."
8. “I am in the lineage of Gil Scott-Heron, great activist-type artists. But I’m also in the lineage of a Miles Davis — you know, that liked nice things also.”
9. "I don’t believe that it’s luxury to go into a store and not be able to afford something. I believe luxury is to be able to go into a store and be able to afford something."
10. On "Keeping up with the Kardashians":  "It’s not that I have an issue with the show; I just have an issue with the amount of backlash that I get. Because I just see like, an amazing person that I’m in love with that I want to help."
11. "I don’t want to explain too much into what my thoughts on, you know, fatherhood are, because I’ve not fully developed those thoughts yet. I don’t have a kid yet ... Like, this is my baby. This isn’t America’s baby."
12. On his "Yeezus" album: "This one Corbusier lamp was like, my greatest inspiration ... Like I say, I’m a minimalist in a rapper’s body."
13. On the moment he called out President Bush at the Hurricane Katrina telethon: "Yeah, it was pretty bugged out. When you think about it, I was wearing like, a Juicy Couture men’s polo shirt. We weren’t there, like, ready for war."
14. On his outfits from five years ago: "Yeah, kill self. That’s all I have to say. Kill self."
15. "The idea of Kanye and vanity are like, synonymous. But I’ve put myself in a lot of places where a vain person wouldn’t put themselves in. Like what’s vanity about wearing a kilt?"
16. "If you don’t make Christmas presents, meaning making something that’s so emotionally connected to people, don’t talk to me."
17. "Like, I want the world to be better! All I want is positive! All I want is dopeness!"
18. "Yeah, respect my trendsetting abilities. Once that happens, everyone wins. The world wins; fresh kids win; creatives win; the company wins."
19. On whether his instinct to fight for what's fair has led him astray, as in the instance he tried to take Taylor Swift's MTV Video Music Award away from her during her acceptance speech: "It’s only led me to complete awesomeness at all times. It’s only led me to awesome truth and awesomeness. Beauty, truth, awesomeness. That’s all it is."
20. "I will be the leader of a company that ends up being worth billions of dollars, because I got the answers. I understand culture. I am the nucleus."

To read the full NYT interview, click here >

Now read: See what else Kanye says about being the next Steve Jobs

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