Kanye West Tells Jimmy Kimmel: ‘I’m a Creative Genius’

But the two stars seemed ready to bury the hatchet when West appeared on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" Wednesday night. After Kimmel, 45, said he really hadn't meant any offense, Kanye admitted he might have misdirected some of his rage.

"I knew you before," the 36-year-old rapper began. "So when I saw the video, which I didn't watch all the way through because I didn’t want to be infuriated, I said, 'Well, I know you.' So the combination of me knowing you, but not knowing the person who put a bad headline on the cover of In Touch … I thought, 'Well, this is the one person I know!' So I can go and let out anything that I feel about every single bogus weekly cover, every single bogus skit, every rumor in every barbershop, every person who feels it's okay to treat celebrities like zoo animals."
And once Kanye got going, he had a hard time stopping. "At a certain point these egos can flare up and we kinda just took it back to high school for a little bit," he confessed.
"And I got beat up a lot in high school," Kimmel quipped.
The host then spent a minute validating what West had said before slipping in a slight qualifier. "A lot of times, I think you bring it on yourself," he noted. "I don't know if you know this, but a lot of people think you're a jerk."
And that's when Kanye threw down — just kidding! The new dad actually explained his position like a calm, emotionally stable adult ... who happens to think quite highly of himself.
"I'm not running for office," the rapper declared. "And when I did that interview, I was vocal about a lot of things that I've been dealing with over the last 10 years as I was put in the classification of 'just' a celebrity, because for me, I'm a creative genius, and there's no other way to word it." Without missing a beat, he added, "I know you're not supposed to say that about yourself and I say things the wrong way a lot of times, but my intention is always positive."
West then waxed poetic about his love of "cool stuff" (like his first pair of Gucci shoes) and explained that he's not even really a rapper; he's more of a "messenger." Um. OK.

For his part, Kimmel didn't seem remotely thrown by Kanye's declaration of his own brilliance, and even complimented the rapper on his lack of false humility. "For me to say I wasn't a genius, I would just be lying to you and to myself," West reiterated before paying Kimmel his own type of compliment.

Looping back to their feud, he remarked, "The only reason I could do that is because we can speak on a similar level." In other words, getting in a Twitter war with Kanye is some sort of … proof that you're a genius?

His battle with Kimmel put to bed, Kanye turned his attention to the powers that be who decided that his baby mama couldn't have a star on the Walk of Fame because she's only famous for being on a reality show. "There's no way that Kim Kardashian shouldn't have a star on the Walk of Fame," he declared. (In his defense, Kim's fame really began with a sex tape.) Then he may or may not have compared her to Muhammad Ali, but to be honest we really don't want to know.

[Related: Kanye Declares His Love for Kim K. in BBC Interview]
Continuing to barely let the host get a word in edgewise, Kanye concluded, "You're gonna love me or you're gonna hate me, but I'm gonna be me."
Thanks for clearing that up.