In an interview with celebrity news website TMZ, the rapper said: "When you hear about slavery for 400 years. For 400 years? That sound like a choice."
Celebrities including film director Spike Lee and singers Will.i.am and John Legend have hit back at the comments, describing them as "ignorant" and saying the rapper needs to "wake up".
In a post on Instagram, Lee wrote: '"SLAVERY...A CHOICE"??? My Brother, OUR Ancestors Did Not Choose To Be Stolen From Mother Africa."
Will.i.am criticised West's "harmful" and "ignorant" remarks.
The Voice UK judge told ITV's Good Morning Britain: "That statement was one of the most ignorant statements that anybody that came from the 'hood could ever say about their ancestors, that slavery is a choice. What are you talking about?"
He added: "That's not Kanye.
"To me that's a different person that's saying that. And I hope it's not to raise awareness so he could sell a record and some shoes, because that would be the worst thing to do. To stir up a very touchy race situation and you be the benefactor from it.
In his TMZ interview, West said: "When you hear about slavery for 400 years. For 400 years? That sounds like a choice.
"Like, you was there for 400 years and it's all of y'all? It's like, we're mentally in prison.
"I like the word prison because slavery goes too direct to the idea of blacks.
"It's like slavery, holocaust. Holocaust - Jews, slavery is blacks. Prison is something that unites us as one race. Blacks and whites being one race."
When asked to explain, West said: "Yeah, right now we're choosing to be enslaved."
TMZ reporter Van Lathan told West he was "appalled" and "unbelievably hurt" the rapper was calling the marginalisation of "our people" over 400 years "a choice".
The rapper then apologised to Lathan, saying he was "sorry" he hurt him.
The interview caused an inevitable social media storm, particularly among his 21.8 million followers on Twitter, with one user, @wakandria08, saying: "Kanye West does not speak for all black people."
Breaking 11-months of Twitter silence, he also wrote a philosphy book "in real time" to satisfy his "innate need to be expressive" - after deleting all his previous tweets.
The tweets included advice for budding creatives as he told his followers not to "follow crowds" and "do what you feel, not what you think".
Many fans were left puzzled by the sudden outburst.
It is not clear if West was referring to those tweets in Tuesday's interview, but as he spoke of his opiod addiction, he said: "So the reason I do not want to delete those tweets is because I was drugged the f*** out, bro."
The "400 years " of slavery refers to the time period from roughly 1500-1900. Give or take a little, it is an accurate chronology of African slavery OUTSIDE of Africa.
What West appears to be referring to is people in 2018 talking about slavery. To him the "400 years" is a historical designation and people today should not refer to slavery as something that effects them.
Having said that, he explained himself very poorly. I have read today that he has an opioid addiction. That fits him in with another group of Trump fans.
I wonder what his wife thinks of this spectacle? Hey any publicity is good publicity baby.
Considering the names they chose for their children and his latest antic, neither of them do much thinking.
As soon as Kanye says anything with "The white man" in it he will be back to being a thug to the right.