“One time I was at the dentist’s office and I was given nitrous gas and I was vibing out — I guess that’s my version of Steve Jobs and his LSD trip — when I had this first thought: What is the meaning of life? And then I thought, To give. What’s the key to happiness? Happiness. What do you want in life? When you give someone something, should they give you something in return? No. We don’t have to expect to be compensated by the person we give to. Just give. I’m a Christian so I’ll speak in Christian terms: God will give you tenfold. Then I said in my mind — I’m still under the gas and getting my teeth cleaned — But I just want to be remembered. And I immediately corrected myself. I said, It doesn’t even matter if I’m remembered. I came out of the gas and had a completely new attitude on everything. It’s fine to not get credit for everything; it’s almost better. For the amount of things that I really want to do, it can only work if I’m credited for about 20 percent of them. Because if I’m really credited for the amount of things that I’m going to do and what I want to do, it’s just too much. The reward is in the deed itself. The times that I’ve looked like a crazy person — when I was screaming at an interviewer or screaming from the stage — all I was screaming was…

‘Help me to help more! I’ve given all I’ve got. I’ve gone into fucking debt. It’s all I’ve got to give. But if I had a little bit more opportunity, I could give so much more.’

That’s what I was screaming for. Help me to help more.”

–Kanye West, In His Own Words, Paper magazine, April 2015

(photos, Jackie Nickerson; via Paper)