Kanye West will appear on the cover of XXL’s October issue, the magazine hits newsstands on September 28. Mr. West penned the cover story on himself—his first article ever—and also served as the creative director of his own 40-page section in the special collector’s issue.

In his candid cover story, Ye speaks on the reaction he received from the infamous 2009 MTV Video Music Awards debacle. “I stress that the incident wasn’t about Taylor personally,” he explains in the story. “And it definitely wasn’t about race. Where I messed up is, at the end of the day, it’s your show, Taylor. It’s your show, MTV.”

“The relationship with the public and with your fans is like the relationship with your girlfriend,” he adds. “How could I not, at a certain point, be like, ‘I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have been at the awards show. I’m sorry.’ Not that I don’t deserve to get beat up or change who I am inside, to make sure that that doesn’t happen again.”