NYT: You look at your outfits from five or seven years ago, and it’s like…

Kanye West: Yeah, kill self. That’s all I have to say. Kill self.

There are people who have figured out the exact, you know, Kanye West formula, the mix between ‘Graduation’ and ‘808s’, and were able to become more successful at it. ‘Stronger’ was the first, like, dance-rap song that resonated to that level, and then ‘808s’ was the first album of that kind, you know? It was the first, like, black new wave album. I didn’t realize I was new wave until this project. Thus my connection with [the graphic designer] Peter Saville, with Raf Simons, with high-end fashion, with minor chords. I hadn’t heard new wave! But I am a black new wave artist.

I remember when both Gnarls Barkley and Justin [Timberlake] lost for Album of the Year, and I looked at Justin, and I was like: ‘Do you want me to go onstage for you? You know, do you want me to fight?’.