This week’s issue of The New York Times Style Magazine features a cover story on Kanye West called “The Solitary Artist: On Being Kanye West.” In it, he talks inspiration, what makes a good celebrity and his ego. Here are some of the most interesting things he shared:

On his childhood ambitions: “I dreamed, since I was a little kid, of having my own store where I could curate every shoe, sweatshirt and color. I have sketches of it. I cried over the idea of having my own store.”

On critics who call his Yeezy Season 1 collection derivative: “I would like to be influenced as much as possible. I don’t care if you can see the influence in something, as long as I made it better.”

On his feelings for the world’s biggest pink polo purveyor, Ralph Lauren, who famously put his hand on Kanye’s cheek when they met: “Do you know what he said when he did that? ‘This is my son.’ And I was thinking, ‘I knew it! I knew Ralph was my daddy!’”

On his celebrity: “I’m not a celebrity, I’m an activist. The fact that when I see truth it’s really hard for me to sit back and just allow it to happen in front of me on my clock makes me, a lot of times, a bad celebrity.”

On the contrast between the expensive clothes he wears and the affordable line he wants to sell: “There’s a transition. I need to partake in what’s of value and of quality and soul in order to understand it, in order to give it back.”

On his progress: “I feel like now I have an amazing wife, a supersmart child and the opportunity to create in two major fields. Before I had those outlets, my ego was all I had.”

On his ego: “I have this table in my new house. They put this table in without asking. It was some weird nouveau riche marble table, and I hated it. But it was literally so heavy that it took a crane to move it. We would try to set up different things around it, but it never really worked. I realized that table was my ego. No matter what you put around it, under it, no matter who photographed it, the douchebaggery would always come through.”

Read the entire interview here.

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(Photo: The New York Times Style Magazine)