Kanye West is profiled in the new issue of W, which spent a few days with the rapper in Paris while he was recording Yeezus. Kanye acts like a jerk to Kris Jenner, talks about Le Corbusier a lot, learns how to spell “Mies van der Rohe,” and explains that his personal life goal is, “To make Kanye West as dope as possible.”
Kanye also says that he wrote “I Am A God” after he was offended by a fashion show invitation that came with strings attached:
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.”
W‘s writer asks West what the song “means.” Kanye is silent for a moment, “eating stir-fried vegetables off an Hermès plate.”
“I made that song because I am a god,” he says finally. He laughs for a second, then stops. “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?”
Any guesses who the unnamed designer is?
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