Kanye West Talks ‘Runaway’ Inspiration & His Connection To The People

Kanye West was inspired by videos of his youth in creating “Runaway,” the short film to accompany his new song of the same name, and he has total faith that the public will get his artistic vision.

“I think people are gonna get it,” the superstar told Access Hollywood on Wednesday. “I think that pop culture tries to force feed a dumbed down version of everything and people try to act like the fans are dumb and people are really not as basic as the media tries to make them out to be. No one is that basic.”

The hip-hop king said “Runaway,” which stars the rapper himself and Selita Ebanks, who plays a fallen phoenix, was inspired during a slumber session.

“It’s a piece of a dream of mine all the way from the colors to the phoenix to the explosion and just crashing these things together,” he said of the 35-minute film, which sees him crash into a phoenix, which he later helps bring back to good health.

Kanye said the cut, which features lyrics like, “Let’s have a toast for the douchebags…” and “I don’t know how I’d manage if you’d up and leave,” is inspired by a lot of things.

“In a way, it’s funny… it’s like… the song sounds like it’s talking about a girl — could also be talking about my relationship with society or my relationship with the fans or anyone who I let down or people who had to defend me that really love me,” he said. “I like leaving songs ambiguous a little bit, where it’s like, it could be about other people, It could be about yourself. It’s funny — it’s like a man’s anthem, but it’s a woman’s anthem. Like, ‘Let’s have a toast with a douchebag!’”

Kanye, who releases his newest album, “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy,” on November 22, said he’s driven to make songs because he feels like he understands people’s hearts.

“I try to make music that touches people because I feel like I am the people,” he said. “I’m a part of them. I feel like I’m the only one that’s exactly like how the people really are at home that’s on the other side of the TV… I feel like a responsibility to just, you know, keep it real, no matter what.”

“Runaway” premieres on Saturday at 8 PM EST on MTV, BET and VEVO.