Kanye West "Hitler" remark his latest flap
Fans got their first look Monday at one of the most anticipated albums of the summer, "Watch the Throne," a collaboration by Jay-Z and Kanye West, hip-hop's two biggest stars. It hit iTunes, and is slated to be on store shelves Friday.
But, reports CBS News National Correspondent Ben Tracy, the CD's debut is being overshadowed by yet another controversy involving West.
The raw talent that flows so effortlessly out of West's mouth is perhaps only eclipsed by his seemingly endless capacity for sticking his foot in his mouth.
"I am the number one human being in music," he has said. "That means any person that's living or breathing is number two."
This past weekend, the 34-year-old rapper hit another sour note. In a ten-minute, profanity-laced onstage rant during the Big Chill music festival in England, he exclaimed that he often feels as hated as Adolf Hitler.
"I walk through the hotel," he said, "and I walk down the street, and people look at me like I'm (expletive) insane, like I'm Hitler."
"One day," he added, "people will understand everything I ever did, ever said, was to throw myself on the blade for the sake of someone else."
West's notorious self-pity and penchant for feeling persecuted once led to his depiction as a tortured messiah on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine.
Billboard magazine Senior Correspondent Gail Mitchell told CBS News, "I think Kanye is being true to Kanye. I don't think he thinks he's doing anything wrong."
West has earned his reputation the hard way.
At the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, he stormed the stage and told a stunned Taylor Swift that Beyonce should have won the award Swift had just been given for best female video.
"Yo, Taylor," he said. "I'm really happy for you. I'll let you finish, but Beyonce has one of the best videos of all-time. One of the best videos of all-time!"
In 2005, while raising money for Hurricane Katrina victims, West infamously said, "George Bush doesn't care about black people."
Mr. Bush later called it one of the most disgusting moments of his presidency.
Of course, creating controversy can also generate album sales, and Kanye's collaboration with Jay-Z is expected to be huge.
"It's very anticipated, it's an event album," Mitchell says. " ... And they're on-track with that album to first-week sales of 400,000-500,000."
West, who has never suffered from an excess of humility, also compared himself to basketball great Michael Jordan this weekend as he started his show a half-hour late.
West's weekend concert also included a tribute to the late Amy Winehouse, and he used the opportunity to swipe at the media, telling them to "lighten up" on the "artists that are still here."