He is heard shouting about the stage, which one source said was altered before Kanye's performance

He then said he was ‘50 per cent’ more influential than filmmaker Stanley Kubrick, Pablo Picasso, Paul the Apostle and Pablo Escobar

Kanye West called NBC staffers ‘white motherf*****s’ and said Taylor Swift was a ‘fake a**’ during a meltdown just before he was set to take the stage and perform on Saturday Night Live over the weekend.

The rapper and fashion designer, who just released his new album The Life of Pablo on Tidal, threatened to not perform before he repeatedly yelled at SNL staff ‘Don’t f*** with me’, an audio clip obtained by Page Six revealed.

Kanye then said he was ‘50 per cent’ more influential than filmmaker Stanley Kubrick, Pablo Picasso, Paul the Apostle and Pablo Escobar.

In the meltdown, Kanye called NBC staffers ‘white motherf*****s’ and said Taylor Swift was a ‘fake a**’ after threatening not to perform

Kanye then said he was ‘50 per cent’ more influential than filmmaker Stanley Kubrick, Pablo Picasso, Paul the Apostle and Pablo Escobar

He is heard ranting: ‘Let's get to it, bro. Let's get to it, bro! Are they f****** crazy? Bro! By 50 per cent [I am more influential].

‘Stanley Kubrick, Apostle Paul, Picasso... f****** Picasso and Escobar. By 50 per cent more influential than any other human being.

‘Don't f*** with me. Don't f*** with me. Don't f*** with me. By 50 per cent, dead or alive, by 50 per cent for the next thousand years. Stanley Kubrick. Ye.’

A source told Page Six of the incident; 'It had something to do with the set. Kim, who was in the audience with Kylie Jenner, had to come down.

'Lorne had to personally talk to Kanye. There were a few really tense minutes” when it looked like West was walking, leaving the live NBC show in the lurch.'

Also in the rant, Kanye is heard shouting about a stage.

He said: ‘Look at that s***, they took my f****** stage off of SNL without asking me. Now I'm bummed. That and Taylor Swift, fake a**.

‘Now I ain't gonna do this. We're breaking the mother-f****** Internet. I went through six years of this f****** s***.

Kanye was spotted on Wednesday walking through Los Angeles International Airport. He was wearing a jacket that said 'Justice for All' on the back

Kanye told reporters at Los Angeles Internatinal Airport on Wednesday, however, that he has 'all positive vibes' toward Taylor Swift.

'It's like I want the best for that person, but there's people going through real issues here,' he said.

He added: 'The media tries to make this ongoing story and everything for hits and all, but I don't think people care about me or her in that way. They care about their families. If you like my music, listen to it. If you like her music, listen to it.'

A source close to Kanye told PEOPLE that the star was not yelling at SNL staff but was upset about the stage change.

'This audio was secretly recorded while he was venting his frustration in a private moment with his team. He found out his stage design was changed and taken apart under the direction of the show's lighting director without anyone's approval.'

The source continued: 'He had spent an entire day rehearsing and [put] a lot of hard work into the performance. Dramatic set changes were made 30 minutes before going live. It should be understandable why he was upset after being completely blindsided.'

The incident occurred just minutes before he was to perform at last week’s Saturday Night Live show hosted by Melissa McCarthy.

A source told Page Six that Kanye was upset that shiny flooring had been removed from his set because it was reflecting on stage lights.

Another source said that Kanye called SNL staffers 'white motherf*****s', though that can't be heard on the recorded audio.

The source told Page Six: 'It was like he was having an emotional breakdown. He was calling the crew "white motherf*****s" and then said he was going to walk out.

An ongoing feud between Kanye and Taylor Swift rekindled last week when a song on Kanye's new album called out the pop star, as Kanye said he 'made that b**** famous'

'The only thing that stopped him from actually leaving right then was that nobody had access to the freight elevator. If he’d walked out on the live show, it would have been a disaster. And the whole meltdown was just because of the floor.'

Another source said that Kanye was having 'regular meltdowns'.

'Everyone’s walking on eggshells around him. He’s under a lot of stress between the new album and the fashion line,' the source said.

On Monday Kanye went on another of his Twitter rants, asking 'Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, New York Times' to 'not comment on black music anymore,' calling Puff Daddy 'the most important cultural figure in my life,' and saying he 'don't understand what it means to be the great grandson of ex slaves.'

He also said that the 'system is designed for colored people to fail and one of our only voices is music.'

Kanye revealed during that same rant that his album will never go on sale and will only ever be available on Tidal, the digital music service which is subscription based and owned by his friend Jay Z and other music artists.

'It had something to do with the set. Kim, who was in the audience with Kylie Jenner, had to come down,' said a source (above on Saturday)