On Monday, we got word that among the short but impressive list of collaborators on Madonna’s forthcoming album Rebel Heart, Mike Tyson made the cut. Tyson is featured on the song “Iconic” alongside Chance The Rapper, and though he hasn’t heard a finalized version of the track quite yet, he did an interview with Rolling Stone’s Jason Newman about his “spoken word” contribution. Tyson’s rap was ad-libbed and recorded in a single take, and he apparently drew most of his inspiration from Benito Mussolini:

When I did it, I think about being some guy like [Benito] Mussolini and they’re really arrogant, but you try to come from a positive perspective and be uplifting. You watch Mussolini on television — even though we don’t understand what he’s saying — he is so mesmerizing. I look at myself in that way.

I know people may say “this guy’s a fascist” and all this stuff, but man, you can take positivity from watching him.

Tyson later goes on to detail Mussolini’s own particular brand of “street swag” and states that Madonna is simply trying to “save the world.” As Newman points out in the article, Madonna and Tyson go way back; the two first met in 1988 when they went on a double-date to see Big Top Pee-wee with Tyson’s then-wife Robin Givens and Madonna’s then-husband Sean Penn. It’s a bizarre read, but well worth your time. Check out the entire article over at Rolling Stone.

[Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images.]