Kanye West appeared Wednesday (August 29, 2018) on Chicago radio station WGCI 107.5 where he spoke freely on a wide range of topics, starting with Drake and ending with a promise to be a better person.
The hosts jumped right in, starting the exchange by asking West if he had told Pusha T about Drake having a child, a charge West pushed back on forcefully.
Notably, West apologized for the statement he made about slavery being a choice on TMZ in May. West explained, “I want to take moment right now to say I’m sorry, the one-two effect of the MAGA hat and the slave comment. And I’m sorry for people who feel let down by that moment. And also, I appreciate you guys giving me the opportunity to talk to you about what the way I was thinking and what I was going through and what led me, you know, to that. And I just appreciate you guys holding on to me as a family.”
When asked to answer Jimmy Kimmell’s question about whether Donald Trump cares about black people, West responded, “I feel that he 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. 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.”
West became emotional in the exchange when he discussed losing supportive friends as he began to make more money and became more famous. He noted he recently reached out to Chicago-born friend and collaborator Don Crawley, who had been a critical member of West’s creative team early on. “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.”
West also addressed having to compete with Virgil Abloh and Drake. “You need a village around when you have so many responsibilities. I’m producing five album in a row. I’m dealing with people trolling me. There’s a lot of pressure. I’m pitting in competitions directly with Drake. Directly with Virgil, at the same damn time.”
The hosts also pressed West on his lack of presence in the Chicago community. “Y’all about to see, it’s about to light up,” said West. “I’m in the studio with Vic and Chance the past couple days. Now I’m building up where I’m in a position, where you know we got a marketing fund from Adidas where we’re saying we’re focusing the entire fund into Chicago. I went and got some cool friends and stuff to help think about situations.”
The interviewed ended with West promising his supporters would see a new and improved West going forward.
Check out the emotional exchange below.
