Kanye West has shown he has no problems with self-esteem in the runup the release of sixth solo album, Yeezus. In an interview with New York Times he said he was the successor to Steve Jobs, asserting: "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."

When asked if his instinct had ever led him astray, as when he stormed the stage to interrupt Taylor Swift at the MTV Video awards, West said: "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." On the subject of awards, West also hinted at racism within the Grammy organisation, saying: "I'm assuming I have the most Grammys of anyone my age, but I haven't won one against a white person."

He also spoke about the making of Yeezus, saying a lamp designed by Le Corbusier was "my greatest inspiration" after a spell based in France. "I lived in Paris in this loft space and recorded in my living room, and it just had the worst acoustics possible, but also the songs had to be super simple, because if you turned up some complicated sound and a track with too much bass, it's not going to work in that space," he said.

"I would go to museums and just like, the Louvre would have a furniture exhibit, and I visited it like, five times, even privately. And I would go see actual Corbusier homes in real life and just talk about, you know, why did they design it? They did like, the biggest glass panes that had ever been done. Like I say, I'm a minimalist in a rapper's body."

For those unable to wait until Monday to hear Yeezus, West has unveiled a trailer for the album on his website. We will be providing a first-listen writeup of the album on Monday, with a full review by Alexis Petridis to follow.

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