Kanye West Discusses His Mental Health In Ye Interview
In his first post-Ye sit-down interview to be released, Kanye West spoke with radio host Big Boy about how he scrapped what he was working on to make a completely new album and why he decided to call that album Ye. He also discussed his mental health.
“I wanted something to match that energy” that the “universe is giving me,” the rapper said of his new music at the Wyoming Ye listening party event. He added that he revamped the LP after being called out for making a statement that slavery is a “choice” when visiting the TMZ newsroom last month. “We just sat there and really honed in on the words,” he said. “Also, we know now, it’s all headlines … every bar can be used … I took a bar off the album. It was just too sensitive about that topic and stuff.”
“I believe ‘ye’ is the most commonly used word in the Bible, and in the Bible it means ‘you,'” West said of the album’s title. “So I’m you, I’m us, it’s us. It went from Kanye, which means the only one, to just Ye — just being a reflection of our good, our bad, our confused, everything. The album is more of a reflection of who we are.”
The rapper went on to candidly speak about mental illness and how art acts as an outlet for him.
“I’m so blessed and so privileged because think about people that have mental issues that are not Kanye West, that can’t go and make that [album] and make you feel like it’s all good.”
“I’ve never been diagnosed and I was like 39 years old,” West revealed, clarifying that he meant “diagnosed with a mental condition.”
“It’s not a disability, it’s a superpower,” he told Big Boy, echoing his lyric about bipolar disorder on Ye.
Watch the full interview below.
This article originally appeared on Billboard.