Rapper Kanye West "doesn't care" about his Grammy Award trophies.

The 37-year-old, who has picked up 21 of the coveted trophies, uses the prizes as "reference points" to "prove" his talents.

He revealed this at Los Angeles Trade Technical College during a guest talk, Friday, that he and also spoke of his frustration at not being taken seriously in the fashion industry, reports contactmusic.com.

"He said that he doesn't care about his Grammys but he thinks of them as reference points," Visual Communications student Andre Pitts was quoted as saying.

"And that he can point back to them and say, 'I've proven that I can do this, so I should be able to do this.' So that's what he was trying to get out, that he feels that he is able to do these things but that he's being shot down by the fashion industry," added Pitts.

During a question and answer session with the students, West, says he still thinks of himself as "the best artist" and prefers his own music to other people's.

The visit was West' fourth time speaking to Los Angeles students, and it forms part of his 240-hour community service sentence, which was handed out when he struck a plea deal over allegedly attacking a photographer last year.