The US rapper said he had been concerned wife Kim Kardashian might leave him after he claimed slavery sounded “like a choice”.

The opening track on West’s new album, Ye, is called I Thought About Killing You.

It contains the lyrics: “Today I thought about killing you, premeditated murder/I think about killing myself/And I, I love myself way more than I love you.”

Asked whether the lines were an accurate reflection of his thoughts, he told The New York Times: “Oh yeah, I’ve thought about killing myself all the time.

“It’s always an option. Like Louis CK said, I flip through the manual. I weigh all the options.”

He added: “I did think it all the way through. But if I didn’t think it all the way through, then it’s actually maybe more of a chance of it happening.”

West’s comments about slavery were made in an interview with celebrity news website TMZ.

“When you hear about slavery for 400 years… For 400 years? That sounds like a choice,” he said.

After that appearance, his “energy levels were low”, he explained.

“I called different family members and was asking, you know, ‘Was Kim thinking about leaving me after TMZ?’ So that was a real conversation.”

Returning to what he said on the TV show, he talked about the backlash from the slavery comments.

He said: “I learned so much. I learned about the context of the idea of the word slave. I didn’t take it in that context,” West told the newspaper, before insisting he “never” actually said slavery was “a choice”.

West explained: “I said the idea of sitting in something for 400 years sounds – sounds – like a choice to me.

“I never said it’s a choice. I never said slavery itself – like being shackled in chains – was a choice.”

West also spoke about his support for Donald Trump, saying he felt celebrities were “scared” to say they liked the president.

“I liked him, and I’m not scared to say what I like,” he said.

He also felt pressured to support Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election. “It was like an arranged marriage or something,” he said.

“And I’m like, that’s not who I want to marry. I don’t feel that.

“I was living inside of some universe that was created by the mob-thought, and I had lost who I was, so that’s when I was in the sunken place.