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Kanye poses as Jesus for mag
Acclaimed rapper, up for eight Grammy Awards this year, appears on latest Rolling Stone with bloody crown of thorns atop his head.
The Kanye West provocation machine rolls on today, as Rolling Stone unveiled its latest issue, with the acclaimed rapper posing as Jesus Christ--complete with a bloody crown of thorns atop his head.
West, up for eight Grammy Awards for his sophomore effort, Late Registration, has courted controversy consistently in the past year, never shying away from making a point, be it political, artistic, or egotistical.
The latest issue of Rolling Stone, which hits newsstands Friday, also contains a photo of the outspoken 27-year-old rapper posing as Muhammad Ali in the famous image after he knocked out Sonny Liston in 1965.
"In America, they want you to accomplish these great feats, to pull off these David Copperfield-type stunts," West told the magazine. "You want me to be great, but you don't ever want me to say I'm great?"
West struck a chord with many and infuriated others in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. On a live telethon for hurricane victims, West blurted, "George Bush doesn't care about black people." The statement stunned copresenter Mike Meyers, and NBC deleted the unscripted statement when it aired the show on the West Coast later that day.
"If I was more complacent and I let things slide, my life would be easier, but you all wouldn't be as entertained," he told Rolling Stone. "My misery is your pleasure."
West also told Rolling Stone that his hit song "Gold Digger" was the best song last year and that it should have been nominated for the Grammy's best rap song category: "That's a gimme Grammy."
The Grammys will be broadcast on CBS February 8.
West's Late Registration has sold 2.5 million copies to date in the US, according to Nielsen Soundscan.
The oddest excerpt of the Rolling Stone story, however, is West's admission that he's addicted to pornography. He remembers first seeing his father's Playboy magazine when he was 5 years old.
"Right then, it was like, 'Houston, we have a problem,'" he said.