Kanye West Addresses Drake-Pusha-T Beef, Apologizes for Slavery Comment
Kanye West stopped by 107.5’s “WGCI Morning Show” in his hometown of Chicago on Wednesday morning (Aug. 29) for a wide-ranging and emotional interview, where he spoke out on topics including his support for Trump, his controversial slavery comment, and his role in the Drake vs. Pusha-T feud.
“It hits me in a really sensitive place,” said ‘Ye when asked about his relationship with Drake. “Because you, like, hang around people and they come to your house and be around your family and this and that, and then they get mad about a beat and then send you purple demon emojis.”
But he downplayed the severity of the situation. “It ain’t no beef. Ain’t nobody going to jail. It’s no in between,” he said. “We all got love for Drake. We understand that he got upset about [‘The Story of Adidon’]. I feel that it was insensitive for [Drake] to, in any way, stress me out in any way after TMZ, while I’m in Wyoming healing, pulling all the pieces together, working on my music. And you know, we’ll reconcile that one day because we got to, because we got work to do, and these voices is just too powerful.”
When asked whether he provided the intel for King Push’s scathing “Story of Adidon” diss, he denied any participation. “Don’t pull me into that type of conversation,” added Kanye. “That’s what y’all don’t even understand. I’m ‘Ye, I got major things to do other than be telling him some information about Drake. I don’t sit around and do that. I honestly don’t care that much, in all honesty.”
He also addressed Jimmy Kimmel’s question about Donald Trump that left him speechless. “You so famously and so powerfully said ‘George Bush doesn’t care about black people.’ It makes me wonder, what makes you think that Donald Trump does?” asked Kimmel during the appearance earlier this month.
Kanye responded, “I feel that [Trump] cares about the way black people feel about him, and he would like for black people to like him like they did when he was cool in the rap songs and all this. He will do the things that are necessary to make that happen because he’s got an ego like all the rest of us, and he wants to be the greatest president, and he knows that he can’t be the greatest president without the acceptance of the black community. So it’s something he’s gonna work towards, but we’re gonna have to speak to him.”
He also apologized for his controversial comment about slavery. “When you hear about slavery for 400 years, for 400 years? That sound like a choice,” said West during a visit to TMZ in May.
“I have never really approached or addressed the slavery comment fully, and it’s not something for me to over-intellectualize,” he told WGCI. “This is something about the fact that it hurt people’s feelings and the way that I presented that piece of information. I could present in a way more calm way, but I was ramped up. And I apologize. That happens sometimes when people are—I’m not blaming mental health, but I’m explaining mental health.
“I don’t know if I properly apologized for how the slavery comment made people feel,” he continued. “I’m sorry for the one-two of the MAGA hat into the slavery comment. And I’m sorry for people who felt let down by that moment.”
Later in the interview, Kanye broke down in tears while discussing his fallout with longtime collaborator and designer Don C. “I believe that the downfall of Kanye West is directly related to Don C not being around,” he said. “Don is actually… He’s actually in town right now because I just told him I need him. To be there for me, so shit like this doesn’t happen to me.”
Before leaving, West asked for his city’s support and vowed to change. “I need y’all as a city to just have my back and I promise you, you gon’ see a new ‘Ye,” he said. “You gon’ feel the impact of the new relationships and the new ideas and exposure that I’ve gathered. It’s about to be applied now.”