Kanye West says he was homophic before he knew one of his cousins is gay and wants discrimination against gays to stop.

Kanye West says “gay” has become an antonym to hip-hop–and that needs to stop.

During an interview for an MTV special Thursday, West launched into a discussion about hip-hop and homosexuality while talking about a song on his upcoming album, “Late Registration,” which drops Aug. 30.

West says he used to be “kind of homophobic” before finding out one of his cousins is gay, which changed his thinking.

“It was kind of like a turning point when I was like, `Yo, this is my cousin. I love him and I’ve been discriminating against gays.”‘

West says hip-hop is about “speaking your mind and about breaking down barriers, but everyone in hip-hop discriminates against gay people.” He adds that in slang, gay is “the opposite, the exact opposite word of hip-hop.”