How can we say this nicely? Kanye West can be a wee bit of a control freak. It's not really a secret, though; the producer and rapper has spoken out in the past about the lengths to which he goes to create his art — whether it's mixing songs over and over again or tediously planning out his Glow in the Dark spectacular. The result of his passion, however, usually leads to universally amazing work.

But how does it feel when West brings you into his highly detailed world? The 808s & Heartbreak rapper graces the cover of the April/May issue of Complex, and Editor in Chief Noah Callahan-Bever said West was heavily involved in the layout. 'Ye appears as a computer-generated image in the spread, as opposed to participating in a traditional photo shoot. The high-tech concept was his idea, which he delivered during an unexpected time.

"Kanye called me at, like, 7:45 in the morning on a Sunday with the idea," Callahan-Bever told MTV News last week about the genesis of the concept. "Two days later, he calls back and says him and [director] Chris Milk are gonna do the illest sh-- ever. And he said he'd send me the pictures. He ends up sending me pictures of him in this 3-D scanning chamber. He's in this sphere with a million cameras on him. He got with the studio that did the CGI work on 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.' They never did a still shoot in this imaging before. So Kanye is telling me how they scanned him to have his likeness and are putting him in this computer world. I mean, what could I say? I was like, 'Uh, OK.' "

The rapper was originally scheduled to appear in the February/March issue of the magazine. The photo shoot took place during a layover as West made his way from Germany to New Zealand.

"It was very rushed," Callahan-Bever admitted. "He was tired. This was right after Thanksgiving. We ended up bumping the cover, and he said he'd do a new shoot for us when he was off his tour schedule."

Two months later, the rapper offered his time, energy and even his own director for the new shoot. Milk has helmed the West videos "All Falls Down," "Touch the Sky" and a version of "Jesus Walks." 'Ye brought him onboard to carry out the plan and praised his collaborator's vision.

"He's really dedicated to his work and pulling out really great art," West told Complex in a behind-the-scenes video clip. "He doesn't get caught up in any of the Hollywood-ness of it."

Complex magazine's seventh-anniversary issue is set to arrive on newsstands this week.