Kanye West Gets Deep With Ryan Seacrest: 11 Things We Learned

Kanye West recently spoke with Ryan Seacrest and co-host Ellen K for an illuminative, wide-ranging radio interview. The chief point of discussion was the rapper’s decision to go onstage during Beck’s Album of the Year acceptance speech at the Grammys and then fake him out. West clarified his comments about Beck needing to “respect artistry,” discussed the possibility of collaborating with (surprise!) Taylor Swift and highlighted what he felt he brought to his recent collaborations with Paul McCartney. Here are 11 of the most eye-opening quotes he gave during the 17-minute chat.

1. He blames the “voices in my head” for interrupting Beck’s acceptance speech
“Everybody was looking at me, and then people started screaming, ‘Kanye! Kanye! Go do it!'” he said. “OK, that didn’t really happen. These were voices in my head.” He laughed. “Then I just walked halfway up the stage. What I really wanted to do was joke around with what had happened before, but I didn’t want to take away from Beck’s moment or the time he had to talk…so I just walked back down. It was kind of a joke, like the Grammys themselves.”

2. He likes Beck
“Beck is one of the nicest guys and one of the most respected musicians in the game. So there’s nothing that I will want to do as a fellow musician to disrespect him in any way. And the weird thing is…I don’t feel like I have the right to take away from people’s moments, but the reality of it is…it’s just a little jolt of truth, right? Everyone feels better after the fact, or everyone is way more famous after the fact, or everyone sells way more albums after the fact, and then Kanye just goes on being a [bleep] to everyone.”

3. The first person to talk to him after interrupting Beck was Taylor Swift…
“Taylor Swift came up to me right afterwards, literally right afterwards, and tells me that I should’ve went onstage. So, this is the irony of my life.”

4. …And she wants to work with him
“She wants to get in the studio, and we’re definitely going to go in. Any artist with an amazing point of view, perspective, fan base, I’m down to get in the studio and work…. If I could be involved in giving people any type of energy, advice in the studio, whether you’re Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, Jay Z, Beck, whoever, and they can be reciprocal with that, I’d like to be involved with that.”

5. His statement about Beck not respecting artistry was not racist
“I want to stress to people that it’s not a black or white thing at all. It’s not me always standing up for a black artist. I feel that racism is a distraction to humanity. We are one race. We are the human race, period.”