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Kanye West compares relationship with Kim Kardashian to 'Romeo and Juliet'

Kanye West really, really loves fiancée Kim Kardashian. (You didn't see the "Bound 2" video yet?) And no metaphor, no literary allusion is too great to make when he talks about his enduring affections — including "Romeo and Juliet." You know, the young romance between star-crossed lovers who (spoiler alert!) die in the end? A smiling West sat down with New York's Hot 97 DJs in their studio on

Kanye West really, really loves fiancée Kim Kardashian. (You didn't see the "Bound 2" video yet?) And no metaphor, no literary allusion is too great to make when he talks about his enduring affections — including "Romeo and Juliet." 

You know, the young romance between star-crossed lovers who (spoiler alert!) die in the end? 

A smiling West sat down with New York's Hot 97 DJs in their studio on Tuesday, and with Kardashian swaying on a chair nearby, he talked about how he'd loved her since he first saw her, and how he had to work hard to get together with her. (Watch the interview here; note that there's adult language at the end.)

Then he added, "I felt like our love story is a love story for the ages. I felt like when we first got together it was like a Romeo and Juliet kind of thing where it's like she's a reality star and I'm a rapper."

West did seem sincere, but the hyperbolic use of the classic Shakespeare characters to illustrate his adoration of Kardashian got TODAY's Willie Geist and Al Roker chuckling Wednesday.

"First of all, that has nothing to do with Romeo and Juliet," noted Roker. "So the Kardashians are the Capulets?"

"There's another problem," said Geist.

"They end up dead!" cried Roker. "Have you ever read 'Romeo and Juliet'?"

They noted that West also said that Kardashian was "the most beautiful woman of all time ... arguably of human existence."

"He's heavy on the superlatives," said Geist. "'Romeo and Juliet.' I don't think he made it to the end of that book."

But Roker suggested the couple called to mind another "classic couple": "The Flintstones." 

"That might be a better parallel," said Geist.

That wasn't all Kanye had to say during his Hot 97 interview, though. He also explained that he doesn't like to appear on "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" because he disagrees with how it is filmed.

"I particularly don't like the way the producers do some of the shots, I'm very meticulous to that, and I'd like to get a different (director of photography) or whatever," he said. "But when we got engaged and I made sure that the show was there because I felt that was something that would make her happy regardless of how it was shot.

He added, "That's when you're in a relationship and you start making sacrifices of what you think is cool or what's not cool and you just let go. I let go to her and she lets go to me and we're stronger for it."

Just like Romeo. And Juliet.