John Legend has opened up about his relationship with Kanye West, his previous confidant, amid the rapper’s public controversy.
In an interview with The Times, the singer detailed his relationship with the rapper, who recently went on a public tirade against people of the Jewish faith during which he said he wanted to go “Defcon 3” on all Jewish people.
Legend began by looking back on their relationship in the early 2000s. “Back then Kanye was very passionate, very gifted, and he had big dreams not only for himself but also for all the people around him,” he says of his colleague, who first signed him to his label.
Legend paints a picture of West’s declining mental health, what with his decision to sell shirts adorned with swastikas and, most recently, his release of the tune ‘Heil Hitler’. Legend continued: “He had so much optimism, so much creativity. It does feel sad, sometimes shocking, to see where he is now.”
Legend first had a run-in with West after he supported Trump in 2022. Legend is as shocked as the rest of the world at the musician’s baffling political views. He said to The Times “I didn’t see a hint of what we’re seeing now, his obsessions with antisemitism, anti-blackness, and it is sad to see his devolution.”
The All of Me singer does have one insight into when his mental decline may have started. “I don’t think we’re qualified to psychoanalyse him, but after his mother passed in 2007, there was definitely a difference. His descent started then and seems to have accelerated recently.”
West’s mother passed Donda at the age of 58, following plastic surgery complications. He released a heavily criticised album named after her in 2022. The album also featured a cameo from another disgraced artist, Marilyn Manson.
