Hip-hop star Kanye West credits the year of his childhood spent living in China with his desire to become a celebrity.

The THROUGH THE WIRE rapper travelled from his native America to China as a pre-teen, and he's certain his brief stint in the Asian nation pushed him to vie for stardom as an adult.

He explains, "My mother's an English professor and they had an exchange program where they would send a student over here and they would send a teacher over there. So I stayed there for a year. I used to know how to speak Chinese and everything.

"But because I was black they weren't used to seeing people of colour so they would come and surround you and that kinda like got me ready to be a superstar. I was a celebrity in fifth grade!

"They'd even come and rub your skin and they'd ask your mother how old she was. I mean, this was back when I was in fifth grade so it's probably changed now."

28/06/2004 09:28