Source: Janet Mayer/ SplashNews / Splash News
David Letterman Gets Kanye To Open Up About Late Mom, Mental Illness And Trump
In case you haven’t already heard — we’ll have another chance to get a better understanding of Kanye West and his “interesting” life and philosophies thanks to his appearance in the new season of David Letterman’s Netflix show “My Next Guest Needs No Introduction.” According to an early preview by the Daily Beast the conversation covers a range of topics including music, fashion and Kanye’s relationships with his father and late mom as Kim Kardashian West sits in the audience watching. Letterman even takes a trip to KimYe’s crib where he tries on pieces from the Yeezy collection, to Kim’s approval.
“You look really good,” Kim tells him.
We were probably most interested to hear that he brings up other artists he’s been at odds with:
During a discussion about his lyrics, Kanye begins to say, “An artist which I will not mention, because I’m not allowed to mention him or any of his family members…”
Letterman responds with, “That’s fairly provocative.”
“Well, we had a little beef last year,” Kanye says, before revealing that he is referring to Drake. “He has this line that I love that says, ‘I told my story and made history’—like made his story and made history. That’s what we do, we tell our story and then people relate to that story.” But then, he adds, people latch onto that story and get mad when it goes in a direction they don’t expect.
“I have a friend who told me that my power is my influence,” Kanye continues. “And I said my power is my ability to not be influenced.”
Letterman follows with, “Wow, this is pretty good.”
The interview also addresses Kanye’s mental health issues, which he describes thusly:
“When you’re bipolar, you have the potential to ramp up and it can take you to a point where you start acting erratic, as TMZ would put it,” the rapper says, referencing his on-air meltdown at that outlet’s offices last year.
Ye, who stopped taking his medication a year ago, argues that his disease likely fuels his creativity:
“If you guys want these crazy ideas and these crazy stages and this crazy music and this crazy way of thinking,” he says, “there’s a chance if might come from a crazy person.”
Of course we saved the best for last… Letterman doesn’t ask Kanye about Trump, Kanye brings up that relationship on his own:
In the midst of an argument about his “fear” as a man during the #MeToo movement, Kanye says, “This is like my thing with Trump—we don’t have to feel the same way, but we have the right to feel what we feel.” When he wears his “Make America Great Again” hat, he says it’s “not about politics” but rather an attempt to break the stigma around showing support for Trump.
“Did you vote for Trump?” Letterman asks him.
“I’ve never voted in my life,” Kanye answers.
“Then you don’t have a say in this,” Letterman shoots back to cheers from the audience.
Kanye responds, “Well you got me, you got me,” before going on his anti-13th Amendment rant that drew Trump’s praise and may or may not have been inspired by conservative activist Candace Owens.
From there, Letterman tries to get Kanye to condemn the Republican-led voter suppression efforts during the most recent midterm elections. “So if I see a person that I admire talking about Donald Trump can think whatever he does,” he says, “I wonder if those thoughts, indirectly, aren’t hurting people who are already being hurt.”
Instead of addressing Letterman’s point, Kanye turns around and expresses sympathy for Trump voters who are “treated like enemies of America because that’s what they felt.” After Letterman makes his forceful case against the idea that Trump is some sort of savior to those who voted for him, Kanye takes a long pause.
“Have you ever been beat up in your high school for wearing the wrong hat?” he asks eventually. Asked who is doing the bulk of the bullying in America right now, he replies, “Liberals bully people who are Trump supporters!”
YIKES… But according to the Daily Beast, Ye kinda manages to redeem himself by revealing some of his James Turrell-inspired Sunday Service project.
The episode and four others lands at Netflix this Friday May 31. Will you be watching?
Check out the trailer below:
Hit the flip to see Kanye talk about his late mom Donda