I'm wondering how much they paid him to do this very rare interview??

Rapper Kanye West spent three-days with New York Times columnist Jon Caramanica in a Malibu recording studio to talk about being in love with reality star Kim Kardashian, what he's doing to prepare for parenthood, the passing of his mother, his career plans and comparing himself to being the Steve Jobs of pop culture--all while he was finishing the 'Yeezy' album.

Here's the highlights:

On his very public relationship with Kim Kardashian and having a baby on the way:

"Any woman that you’re in love with or that loves you is going to command a certain amount of, you know, energy. It’s actually easier to focus, in some ways."

On if he's uncertain about love, and whether it can be a distraction for him:

"Yeah, that’s what I mean when I say like, “Yo, I’m going to be super Zenned out like, five years from now.” I’m the type of rock star that likes to have a girlfriend, you know? I’m the type of soul that likes to be in love and likes to be able to focus. And that inspires me."

On appearing on “Keeping Up With the Kardashians,” and receiving many backlash after he helped Kim sort through her clothes:

"That was from a place of love. It’s hard when people read things in a lot of different ways. You know, the amount of backlash I got from it is when I decided to not be on the show anymore. And it’s not that I have an issue with the show; I just have an issue with the amount of backlash that I get. Because I just see like, an amazing person that I’m in love with that I want to help."

On thinking differently about creating a family for himself, after his mother passed:

Yeah, because my mother was — you know, I have family, but I was with my mother 80 percent of the time. My mom was basically — [pause]

Was your family.

Yeah, that’s all I have to say about that.

On his thoughts about parenthood:

That is a really interesting, powerful question. One of the things was just to be protective, that I would do anything to protect my child or my child’s mother. As simple as that.

On whether he has felt fiercely protective over anything as he's feeling now about those things:

I don’t want to explain too much into what my thoughts on, you know, fatherhood are, because I’ve not fully developed those thoughts yet. I don’t have a kid yet.

You haven’t experienced it yet.

Yeah. Well, I just don’t want to talk to America about my family. Like, this is my baby. This isn’t America’s baby.

"I don’t know if this is statistically right, but I’m assuming I have the most Grammys of anyone my age, but I haven’t won one against a white person. But the thing is, I don’t care about the Grammys; I just would like for the statistics to be more accurate."

"Creative output, you know, is just pain. I’m going to be cliché for a minute and say that great art comes from pain. But also I’d say a bigger statement than that is: Great art comes from great artists. There’s a bunch of people that are hurt that still couldn’t have made the album that was super-polarizing and redefined the sound of radio."

On knowing he was going to be a star: 

"I knew when I wrote the line “light-skinned friend look like Michael Jackson” [from the song “Slow Jamz"] I was going to be a big star. At the time, they used to have the Virgin music [stores], and I would go there and just go up the escalator and say to myself, “I’m soaking in these last moments of anonymity.” I knew I was going to make it this far; I knew that this was going to happen."

On comparing himself to the Steve Jobs of pop culture: