Kanye West has revealed the reason why he doesn’t smile when he is seen out in public.

Despite having hordes of fans across the world, being married to Kim Kardashian and being proud dad to daughter North, the Yeezus rapper is rarely seen cracking a grin – and now he has explained why.

According to the Daily Mirror, he said at the Fashion Los Angeles Awards: “Back when I was working on Yeezus, I saw this book from the 1800s and it was velvet-covered with brass and everything.

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Kanye flashes a rare smile (Jimi Celeste/AP)

“I looked at all these people’s photos, and they look so real and their outfits were incredible and they weren’t smiling.

“People, you know the paparazzi, always come up to me, ‘Why you not smiling?’ and I think, not smiling makes me smile. When you see paintings in an old castle, people are not smiling because it just wouldn’t look as cool.”

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Kanye and Kim practise their pouts (Jordan Strauss/Invision)

After clearing up his reasons for staying serious, Kanye broke his own rule by being pictured flashing a huge grin while walking through Washington DC airport with Kim at the weekend.

However, he did have plenty to be happy about as he had just won the Visionary Award at the 2015 BET Honours ceremony.