Plus why Kanye considers The Matrix the "Bible of the post-information age."
Kanye West is back to having no filter.
The always outspoken 37-year-old rapper gave a lecture at the prestigious Oxford University on Monday, and true to form, gave us some gems that could only come from Kanye being Kanye. Speaking in "stream of consciousness," the "Only One" rapper opened up about everything from his egotistical reputation, getting overshadowed by Nicki Minaj on his own album, and why he considers intense The Matrix the "Bible of the post-information age."
But before you start calling him "crazy," Kanye admitted that he actually likes the term.
"That's one of my favorite ones ... to be called crazy," he said via Oxford University student newspaper The Tab. "People say I have a bad reputation. I think I've got the best reputation in the building. They want you to have a reputation of tucking your black nail polish into your pockets and sitting in the corner of the class, and not fighting for your ideas out of fear of being ridiculed."
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That being said, he did admit to having a huge ego problem.
"One of my biggest Achilles heels has been my ego. And if I, Kanye West, the very person, can remove my ego, I think there's hope for everyone," he said bluntly.
One memorable moment that he revealed humbled him was Nicki Minaj's scene-stealing verse in "Monster," off of his critically acclaimed 2010 album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.
"One of the most memorable things about MBDTF was Nicki Minaj, and the fact that she kicked my ass, on my own song, on one of the best albums…the best album -- I'm just saying what the critics said -- of the last 25 years," Kanye said. "I was exiled from my country, it was a personal exile, but exile. To come back and deliver my magnum opus of a work, and to be outshined … to be beat by a girl, basically."
“This was necessary," he stressed. "I think it was one of the most important points of working on that album, was to not stop her from her moment because of how good she is ... She was able to go on and become a successful, and fly, and run, and dream, and provide. And it was not locked because of my career."
As for his current inspirations, Kanye shouted out the 1999 film The Matrix.
"What I said was The Matrix is like the Bible of the post-information age," he surprisingly said, recalling a conversation he had with 12 Years a Slave director Steve McQueen. "I compared it like, when the hundred guys come at Neo, those are opinions, that's perception, that's tradition. Attacking people from every which angle possible. If you have a focus wide and master sense is like Laurence Fishburne and you have a squad behind you, you literally can put the world in slow motion."
Though much like Jaden Smith, the traditional concept of time is lost on the rapper.
"By the way, I don’t know the days of the week," he revealed. "I just go to exactly when my appointment is ... It's still February, right?"
But clearly, not everyone is impressed with Kanye's deep thoughts. The Internet recently decided to troll Kanye with a particularly pointed prank -- starting last Sunday, when you type "www.loser.com" into your web browser, the site will redirect to Kanye's Wikipedia page.
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Kanye recently got candid on another topic -- his ex-girlfriend Amber Rose -- and caused controversy when he said he had to take "30 showers" before entering into a relationship with Kim Kardashian.
Watch the interview below:
