Kanye West Reminds People He Has a Ph.D. in Art

Kanye West has landed on the cover W Magazine's "The New Royals" issue and sat down with the publication to talk his relationship with art and the fact that he has a Ph.D. On the subject, though he notes, "Not that that would even make the difference but me saying that makes the difference to the exact people I’m talking to."

The degree was honorary, by the way, but that seems besides the point.

The more than two-minute clip edits some of Kanye's stream of conscious down into distilled soundbites, the rapper saying he never felt as if he was going to end up making fine art and that he's mostly over music videos. "I barely want to stand in front of the camera at all," he says. "I’d rather do things where I’m just using my mind." Kanye's most recent music video for "Fade" doesn't feature him at all, while his video for "Famous" includes a wax figure of he and others, the statement being made having less to do with Kanye himself than with the way we prop up and consume celebrity culture.

Kanye also reiterates his love of all things Will Ferrell, drawing a comparison between himself and Ferrell's character in Elf. "I’m the elf that’s Will Ferrell that’s too big for his hands to make the toy. But he wants to make the toys, why, not just so he can play with them, but he wants to bring joy to the world…I build things that mean things to people. I make the Christmas presents."

In February, Kanye said Ferrell had "reached walking, living, breathing god status" after he saw Zoolander 2. Kanye made a cameo in Ferrell's Anchorman 2 in 2013, and used the actor's voice at the beginning of his song "Niggas in Paris" with Jay Z.

Watch Kanye's interview with W up above.

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