Kanye West gives rare interview to declare Lil Wayne 'number one rapper'

Kanye West

Kanye West went on a number of tears during concerts overseas last week, but this week he called into Hot 97 to issue a rare interview... about his spot on an MTV listicle.

West landed at No. 7 on MTV's Hottest MCs In The Game countdown, behind rappers like cohort Big Sean.

"I'm happy for Sean," he told DJ Enuff on Angie Martinez' show. "But I feel like he should be on top 5. He's bodying records, like the way he started off that 'Mercy.'"

Still, he said, there are at least three rappers who are definitely worthy of topping the MTV tally, which will be further revealed this week. He

Not that he was expecting the top spot: In West's view, Lil Wayne is a "number one rapper."

"Yeah, I just think... him and [Jay-Z] and [Eminem] and certain people are just the greatest rappers of all time," he said. So why is he so far behind? Maybe it's because of his earlier work that makes hip-hop critics second-guess.

"I had, like, the pink polo and the backpack and I'm checkin' all the boxes of that Tribe Called Quest era and J. Dilla and all that, so they wanna champion it. They don't like Givenchy Kanye. They don't like Kanye in a kilt. They don't like Kanye in a relationship," he said of MTV and straw men.

More than anything, Yeezy wanted to remind the world that, while he may be in the second tier of a top 10, he gave MTV personality Sway "his first TV."

"I was living in Newark doing beats for Jay and Beans and all them and I was getting a new TV and I gave Sway his first TV," he said. "And really I didn’t wanna even call to talk about the No. 7 list, I just wanna tell everybody that I gave Sway his first TV. And he need to remember that."

West is reportedly working on new solo material, which should surprise no one.

Katie Hasty
Managing Editor

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After five years as a columnist and editor at Billboard, Katie Hasty joined HitFix in 2009 for music and film reporting out of New York. The Midwest native has worked as a writer, music promoter and in A&R since 1999 and performs with her band Numbers And Letters.