Kanye West lectures Oxford students: if I can remove my ego, there's hope for everyone

Kanye West has delivered a guest lecture to 350 students at Oxford University, speaking candidly about his music, his ego and his reputation.

After what Chairman of the Oxford Guild Abbas Kazmi described as "many hours" of negotiation, the 37-year-old rapper arrived to rapturous applause and a minute-long standing ovation before he re-arranged the furniture on the stage and did away with the mic to make the whole thing "aesthetically better," the Independent reported.

A number of West's gems from his half-hour-long lecture were live-tweeted by The Oxford Tab, some of the quotes are:

"One of my biggest achilles heels has beanery ego. And if I, Kanye West, can remove my ego, I think there's hope for everyone."

"We have the resources as a civilisation to make a utopia, but we're led by the most greedy and the least noble"

"Beauty has been stolen from the people and is being sold back to them as luxury."

"Clothing should be like food. There should never be a 5000 dollars sweater. You know what should cost 5000 dollars? A car..."

"People say I've got a bad reputation. I think I've got the best reputation in the building."

"White people that listen to rap say n**ger. In the privacy of their own home."

"I don't think there's a living celebrity with more weapons formed against him, but I don't think there's one more prosperous."

"My goal, if I was going to do art, fine art, would have been to become Picasso or greater... That always sounds so funny to people, comparing yourself to someone who has done so much, and that's a mentality that suppresses humanity...