Kanye West recently sparked outrage after a controversial interview with TMZ showed him saying that slavery was a “choice” for black people. Now he’s trying to ease the hatred he’s getting from everyone.

“We are programmed to always talk and fight race issues,” he tweeted on Tuesday night. “We need to update our conversation,” he said, noting how he “knew” the TMZ interview “would be awesome.”

“The reason why I brought up the 400 years point is because we can’t be mentally imprisoned for another 400 years. We need free thought now. Even the statement was an example of free thought…It was just an idea.”

“In school we need to learn how magic [sic] Johnson built his business not always about the past. Matter fact I’ve never even heard of a high school class that presents future ideas,” West said. “When the media masses and scholars talk about what started today. Here’s a title … the overground hell road.”

Here’s what he said in the TMZ interview:

“When you hear about slavery for 400 years. For 400 years?! That sounds like a choice. Like, you were there for 400 years and it’s all of you all? Like, we’re mentally in prison. Like, slavery goes too direct to the idea of blacks. So prison is something that unites us as one race, blacks and whites being one race. We’re the human race.”