Complete Awesomeness: Top 10 Quotes From Kanye West’s New York Times Interview [PHOTOS]

On being the “Michael Jordan of music” and being able to criticize his critics…

“Anytime I’ve had a big thing that’s ever pierced and cut across the Internet, it was a fight for justice. Justice. And when you say justice, it doesn’t have to be war. Justice could just be clearing a path for people to dream properly. It could be clearing a path to make it fair within the arena that I play. You know, if Michael Jordan can scream at the refs, me as Kanye West, as the Michael Jordan of music, can go and say, ‘This is wrong.'”

Thank Jay-Z and dead prez for making Kanye West the artist that he is today…

“I used to have tracks that sounded like Timbaland; I had tracks that sounded like [DJ Premier]. But Jay-Z was an amazing communicator that made the soul sound extremely popular. And because I could make the soul sound in my sleep, it finally gave me a platform to put the message that my parents put inside of me and that Dead Prez helped to get out of me and Mos Def and [Talib] Kweli, they helped to get out of me: I was able to put it, sloppily rap it, on top of the platform that Jay-Z had created for me.”

Gil-Scott Heron and Miles Davis, as well as his parents, get props too…

“I mean, I am my father’s son. I’m my mother’s child. That’s how I was raised. I am in the lineage of Gil Scott-Heron, great activist-type artists. But I’m also in the lineage of a Miles Davis — you know, that liked nice things also.”

The Taylor Swift incident only bolstered his…awesomeness…

But has that instinct led you astray? Like the Taylor Swift interruption at the MTV Video Music Awards, things like that.

“It’s only led me to complete awesomeness at all times. It’s only led me to awesome truth and awesomeness. Beauty, truth, awesomeness. That’s all it is.”

Even Yeezy can admit he’s a bad singer when discussing 808s and Heartbreak…

“They said, ‘Do it under a different name.’ And when it came out, people used to be like, “Man, I wish it had more rapping on it.” But I think the fact that I can’t sing that well is what makes “808s” so special.

On having a gang of Grammys…

“‘[My Beautiful] Dark [Twisted] Fantasy’ and ‘Watch the Throne’: neither was nominated for Album of the Year, and I made both of those in one year. I don’t know if this is statistically right, but I’m assuming I have the most Grammys of anyone my age, but I haven’t won one against a white person.

But the thing is, I don’t care about the Grammys; I just would like for the statistics to be more accurate.

Yeezy is the Steve Jobs of this ish…

“I think what Kanye West is going to mean is something similar to what Steve Jobs means. I am undoubtedly, you know, Steve of Internet, downtown, fashion, culture. Period. By a long jump. I honestly feel that because Steve has passed, you know, it’s like when Biggie passed and Jay-Z was allowed to become Jay-Z.”

Don’t expect him to talk about his baby with you…

“Well, I just don’t want to talk to America about my family. Like, this is my baby. This isn’t America’s baby.”

If you want to hear Yeezy apologize for anything, listen to his album…

“‘Dark Fantasy’ was my long, backhanded apology. You know how people give a backhanded compliment? It was a backhanded apology. It was like, all these raps, all these sonic acrobatics. I was like: “Let me show you guys what I can do, and please accept me back. You want to have me on your shelves.”

Even Yeezy bows to Rick Rubin…

“I’m still just a kid learning about minimalism, and he’s a master of it. It’s just really such a blessing, to be able to work with him. I want to say that after working with Rick, it humbled me to realize why I hadn’t — even though I produced ‘Watch the Throne’; even though I produced ‘Dark Fantasy’ — why I hadn’t won Album of the Year yet.”