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It must be Yeezy season because another lengthy profile of Kanye West, that includes an actual interview, has just been published. W magazine caught up with the “Send It Up” rapper and his “trademark raw-nerved swagger” (their words) in Paris. 

One reveal in the story is the impetus behind the Yeezus track “I Am A God.”

It turns out this song was inspired by a serious diss—not from another rapper but from a major fashion designer. 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.”

Read the full profile, titled “Kanye West: The Transformer,” right here. Also, check Nick Knight’s illustrations of West in the gallery.

Photos: Nick Knight

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