Photo by Jackie Nickerson for Paper Magazine
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Kanye West has responded to critics who joked that the recent, star-studded press conference for streaming service Tidal was an Illuminati gathering: "Fuck all of this sensationalism," he said in a new interview for Paper Magazine, written in West's own words. "We gave you our lives. We gave you our hearts. We gave you our opinions!"

He said energy executives would be fitting for the Illuminati, not celebrities. "That's ridiculous. We don't run anything; we're celebrities. We're the face of brands. We have to compromise what we say in lyrics so we don't lose money on a contract."

Claiming that he isn't "truly a musician. I am an inventor," West also said it's "important for me, as an artist, to give Drake as much information as I can, A$AP [Rocky], Kendrick [Lamar], Taylor Swift, any of these younger artists as much information as I can to make better music in the future.

Tying in a metaphor for his time working at The Gap in high school, West described his role in his career now as "the gap, the bridge."