Kanye West has spoken in depth for the first time about his outburst at 2009 MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs).

The rapper faced a backlash last September when he stormed the stage during Taylor Swift's acceptance speech to complain that Beyonce should have won the Best Female Video award instead.

The incident saw West called a “jackass” by President Barack Obama and face widespread public criticism.

He apologised on TV before announcing a break from music, which included cancelling a co-headlining tour with Lady Gaga.

In a series of tweets on Twitter today (September 4), West acknowledged that his actions had been “extremely distasteful & bad timing”.

“I became George Bush over night,” he said, adding that when he woke the next day he said to himself: "GROW UP KANYE."

The rapper described the media’s reaction as “the massacre of Kanye”, and also spoke about the impact his outburst had had on his own career.

“I bled hard... cancelled tour with the number one pop star in the world ... closed the doors of my clothing office,” he wrote.

“Had to let employees go... for the first time I felt the impact of my brash actions ... I felt the recession from an ownership side. People booed when I would go to concerts and the performer mentioned my name.”

West also revealed that he had written a song for Swift that he wanted to perform for her.

He said: “I'm ready to get out of my own way. The ego is overdone... it's like hoodies.”

He later added: "I want to win there (sic) hearts back so I can continue to bring my take on culture to the masses with a clean opinion.

"It starts with this...I'm sorry Taylor."

Despite last year’s incident, West has been invited to perform at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards later this month.

Meanwhile, the rapper released a new song on Twitter on Friday (September 3) as part of his Good Friday series.

The rapper is currently putting the finishing touches to his new album. The follow-up to 2008’s ‘808s And Heartbreak’ is due to be released in November.

(by Jason Gregory)