Kanye West, a known perfectionist and control freak, also seems to have strong opinions about online video platforms.
The outspoken rapper went on a rant about art Wednesday during a listening party in Switzerland for his upcoming album, "Yeezus." The latest on the list of things Kanye hates? YouTube.
"[I hate YouTube because] the player is so ugly, and it’s presented in such a terrible manner. I want everything I do to be presented in an art context, as this is a form of sonic art," West told a group of socialites and art collectors, according to the Daily Beast.
West said he pursued art before music, collecting scholarship offers from the Art Institute of Chicago, Saint Xavier University and the American Academy of Art, but he eventually dropped out of school and moved on to music because "when I looked at my work, I just felt that I would never be one of the great visual artists of the world."
Apparently, the singer also made comments about YouTube during a New York listening party earlier in the week.
"You know how you be on YouTube and it's a bunch of related videos on the side that don't got nothing to do with your s***? You may not even like their name or their face next to your s***!" he told singer Busta Rhymes, according to Rolling Stone. "I ain't want none of that! I don't want YouTube giving nobody else related suggestions off my s***!"
Despite his apparent hatred for the site, West has infiltrated YouTube year after year with groundbreaking music videos and political outbursts that will go down in pop culture history.
He's likely to continue his domination of the zeitgeist after "Yeezus" is released June 18. MTV has described the album as "an ambitious, aggressive, angry effort" -- something fans may have figured out for themselves when West premiered the racially charged songs "New Slaves" and "Black Skinhead" during the season finale of "Saturday Night Live."
Perhaps West hopes to fashion himself as something of a tech guru. His criticism of YouTube came after the rapper compared himself to Apple co-founder Steve Jobs during an in-depth interview with The New York Times.
"I think what Kanye West is going to mean is something similar to what Steve Jobs means," West said. "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."
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