Kanye's craziest comments that shocked the nation - While he is primarily known for his music, Kanye West has been making headlines lately for a very different reason. While the rapper is notorious for making controversial statements, he made Americans' jaws drop during a TMZ interview in which he called slavery "a choice." From proclaiming to be a God to roasting Taylor Swift onstage, check out the following gallery and relive all of the most outlandish Kanye West quotes you won't believe are real.

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Kanye on his God status - "I’m the closest that hip-hop is getting to God. In some situations, I’m like a ghetto Pope." - The Guardian

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Kanye on deserving a Bible mention - "I'm going down as a legend, whether or not you like me or not. I am the new Jim Morrison. I am the new Kurt Cobain ... The Bible had 20, 30, 40, 50 characters in it. You don't think that I would be one of the characters of today's modern Bible?" -MTV

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Kanye on being buds with President Trump - "You don't have to agree with Trump but the mob can't make me not love him. We are both dragon energy. He is my brother. I love everyone. I don't agree with everything anyone does. That's what makes us individuals." - via Twitter

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Kanye on being the best - “I am the number one human being in music. That means any person that's leaving or breathing is number two.” - GQ

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Kanye on his water bottle phobia - "I hate when I'm on a flight and I wake up with a water bottle next to me. Like, oh great, now I gotta be responsible for this water bottle.” - via Twitter

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Kanye on his wife's fashion sense - “I have to dress Kim everyday so she doesn’t embarrass me.” - via Twitter

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Kanye on trees - "I'm like a tree. I feed the branches of the people." - The Daily Mirror

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Kanye on slavery being a choice - “When you hear about slavery for 400 years. For 400 years?! That sounds like a choice” - TMZ

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Kanye on literacy being overrated - "Sometimes people write novels and they just be so wordy and so self-absorbed. I am not a fan of books. I would never want a book's autograph. I am a proud nonreader of books." - Reuters

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Kanye on true suffering - “I am God's vessel. But my greatest pain in life is that I will never be able to see myself perform live.” - VH1 Storytellers

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Kanye on race - "There's certain things that black people are the best at and certain things that white people are the best at. Whatever we as black people are the best at, I'm a go get that. Like, on Christmas I don't want any food that tastes white. And when I go to purchase a house, I don't want my credit to look black." - SPIN

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Kanye on true love - "Have you ever thought you were in love with someone but then realized you were just staring in the mirror for 20 minutes?" - via Twitter

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Kanye on brilliance - "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." - New York Times

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Kanye on Taylor Swift not deserving a VMA - “Yo Taylor, I’m really happy for you, I’mma let you finish, but Beyonce has one of the best videos of all time. One of the best videos of all time!" - 2009 MTV Video Music Awards

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Kanye on his appreciation of ninjas - "Man ... ninjas are kind of cool ... I just don't know any personally." - via Twitter

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Kanye on former President Bush - “George Bush doesn’t care about black people.” - A Concert for Hurricane Relief

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Kanye on his own credibility - "You should only believe about 90 percent of what I say. As a matter of fact, don’t even believe anything that I’m saying at all. I could be completely f***ing with you, and the world, the entire time." - W Magazine

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Kanye on his deepest darkest fears - “Just imagine if I woke up one day and I was wack. What would I do then?" - The Guardian

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Kanye on his legacy - “I walk through the hotel and I walk down the street and people look at me like I'm f***ing insane, like I'm Hitler. One day the light will shine through, and one day people will understand everything I ever did." - performance at Big Chill Festival, 2011

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Kanye on being a superhero - "One of the problems with being a bubbling source of creativity – it’s like I’m bubbling in a laboratory, and if you don’t put a cap on it, at one point it will, like, break the glass. If I can hone that… then I have, like, nuclear power, like a superhero, like Cyclops when he puts his glasses on." - Details

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Kanye on winning - “A lot of people were wondering what I was going to do if I didn't win anything. I guess we'll never know.” - 47th Grammy Awards Acceptance Speech

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Kanye on being God (again) - "When someone comes up and says something like, 'I am a god,' everybody says 'Who does he think he is?' I just told you who I thought I was. A god. I just told you." - BBC

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Kanye on keeping it classy - "I don’t even listen to rap. My apartment is too nice to listen to rap in." - DJ Semtex Interview

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Kanye on the meaning of dopeness - "For me, first of all, dopeness is what I like the most. Dopeness. People who want to make things as dope as possible, and, by default, make money from it." - BBC

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Kanye on being brilliant - "Whoa by 50 percent [I am more influential than] Stanley Kubrick, Apostle Paul, Picasso… f***ing Picasso and Escobar. By 50 percent more influential than any other human being." - Saturday Night Live

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Kanye on being #goals - "You may be talented, but you’re not Kanye West." - via Twitter

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Kanye on the origin of AIDS - [AIDS is] a man-made disease. [It was] placed in Africa just like crack was placed in the black community to break up the Black Panthers.” - Live 8 concert, 2005

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Kanye on being a robot - "I'm doing pretty good as far as geniuses go ... I'm like a machine. I'm a robot. You cannot offend a robot." - MTV

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Kanye on being a blessing - “Kim doesn’t understand what a blessing I am to her.” - via Twitter

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Kanye on being an "extremist" - “What's a B+ mean? I'm an extremist, its either pass or fail! A+ or F-! You know what, f**k you and the whole f***ing staff!" - in response to an Entertainment Weekly concert review

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