Warning to all rappers who try to dis Kanye West: He's not gonna respond. Writers who cover the Chicago superstar, however, are an entirely different matter.

"I feel like I'm playing on the same intellectual level of a journalist and not a rapper," a laughing 'Ye said in the April/ May issue of Complex magazine. "I feel like if a rapper disses me, they're just trying get a rise out of me and get me to play in their field to find some way that they can beat me. I feel like there's a lot of rappers that can beat me in ignorance. So why would I play a sport that I'm not particularly trying to get better at or beaten in? There's a lot of rappers that can beat me in ignorance, but there's only a few that can play with true intellect. How f---ing perfect is that f---ing answer?!"

One writer West has set his aim on in the past is Complex Editor in Chief Noah Callahan-Bever. A profile he wrote about West in Vibe wasn't met with enthusiasm by the rapper, who skewered the journalist and magazine. "It takes more than a magazine to kill my vibe," West rapped on his 2005 hit "Diamonds From Sierra Leone."

Callahan-Bever told MTV News that the two now share a healthy respect for each other that's led to a less combative but more rewarding journalist/subject relationship.

"At no point was it tense. It was just like, 'Yo, let's have a real conversation,' " Callahan-Bever said last week. "It's just that thing where there is a respect. I've written about him enough times to where I've written things about him that he's liked and things he hasn't liked, but there's a comfortability in our professional relationship. There's always an issue with him feeling misunderstood by the media, but I think for him, this was an opportunity to do something that's absolutely journalistically credible. It's not a puff piece, but he has the comfort to have a forum to express himself in a way that he feels represents himself in the way he absolutely means."

In the revealing interview, West admits to being depressed during the recording of his recent album, 808s & Heartbreak. The project was recorded in the wake of his mother's tragic death and his breakup with his fiancée Alexis Phifer. He also apologized for his infamous award show tirades. He even expressed remorse over his rant following the 2007 VMAs. (Thanks, 'Ye!)

Throughout the piece, a gracious Kanye gives credit to his support team, even going so far as to admit his road manager, Don Crowley, has better taste. He also said Don C is the person he trusts most now that his mother is gone.

Callahan-Bever called the interview West's most "self-critical."

"To most of the kids who follow Kanye, he could have easily taken the credit for being this incredible tastemaker," he said. "But to be able to say, 'This dude, who is my really good friend, one of my best friends and my partner in this — he is actually one of the guys that I trust the most,' I thought was really humble. And as he points out in the piece, it kind of flies in the face of the picture that's been painted of him as this total egomaniac. That's not to say that the guy doesn't have a very healthy ego, though."