Kanye West in Complex (Photo: Complex)

Everyone's affected by the economy these days. Rappers and other celebs are getting their houses foreclosed on, while others are getting in trouble for non-payment on taxes. Despite it all, Kanye West claims glimpses into his life offer an escape from hard times for his fans.

In Complex magazine's brand new cover story on West, the rapper explains, saying people can live through him to "get their mind off the recession."

"People tune into me for escapism," West tells the mag. "When you went to the Glow in the Dark Tour, you were literally transported to another planet.

"I know there's anti-rich sentiment right now ... but I really feel like that tape embodied me and what Louis Vuitton is about," the rapper continued, referring to a recent video he uploaded to the internet where he called himself "Martin Louis King." "I'd like to think I give optimism to people when I stunt. When I have a pink watch on or tight jeans on, people talk sh** about me, but if I wore all gray and black, who would be the one to wear all the bright colors? How depressing would it be if I was always depressed, or should I say, the press. I'm here to entertain people and to be the one that does the crazy, bold stuff so they can live through me and get their mind off the recession and the war and whatever else is going on in the world."

While Kanye does brighten up a grim reality affecting the nation, he admits that even he isn't recession proof. According to 'Ye, it's affected him as well, but not too much.

"I try to avoid it overly affecting me," West admits. "But some sh** has happened, like Best Buy was supposed to [shoot and produce] the tour DVD and they pulled out of it. I definitely got hit with that, because not shooting it was not an option, so I had to pay for it."

Later in Complex's cover story, the Louis Vuitton Don goes on to address people's remarks that he's gay, his wild fashion sense, if it's really him updating his blog on a daily basis, and a little on his ego.

Read the entire feature over at Complex.com.