John Legend has a principle about Kanye West’s downfall.
The “All of Me” singer, 46, spoke about West, 47, who has sparked latest backlash for his antisemitism, within the wake of their friendship fallout in a brand new interview with The Sunday Instances.
“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,” Legend stated whereas wanting again on when West helped catapult his profession to success after they labored collectively on the rapper’s 2004 album, “The College Dropout.”
“He had so much optimism, so much creativity,” Legend added. “It does feel sad, sometimes shocking, to see where he is now.”
The EGOT winner admitted that he “didn’t see a hint” of West’s present “obsessions with antisemitism, anti-blackness,” including, “It is sad to see his devolution.”
When requested about why West has modified a lot, Legend responded, “I don’t think we’re qualified to psychoanalyse him.”
“But after his mother passed in 2007 there was definitely a difference,” Legend shared. “His descent started then and seems to have accelerated recently.”
West’s mother, Donda West, died of a coronary heart assault at age 58 in 2007, sooner or later after she had a number of beauty surgical procedure procedures, together with liposuction, a tummy tuck and breast discount.
The rapper named his 2021 album, “Donda,” and 2022 album, “Donda 2,” after his mom. He additionally named his Christian non-public faculty in California, Donda Academy, after her.
Legend additionally recalled how West helped turned his profession round over 20 years in the past.
“Kanye blew up after producing Jay-Z’s album ‘The Blueprint’ in 2001,” he stated. “Then he experienced a buzz as a solo artist and the whole time I was traveling with him, doing shows with him, getting exposure not only as his singer and keyboard player but also as an artist myself.”
“I had been turned down by labels everywhere. Then ‘The College Dropout’ sold 400,000 copies in its first week, everyone wanted to know what was happening in our camp, and all those people who turned me down suddenly decided that my music sounded a lot better than it did the first time round,” Legend added.
Again in 2022, Legend stated the musicians couldn’t “sustain our friendship” due to West’s vocal help for Donald Trump.
“He was upset that I didn’t support his run for presidency of the United States of America — for understandable reasons,” Legend defined on “The Axe Files” podcast. “I wasn’t alone in that, but, you know, he was not happy about that. And we really haven’t been close since then.”
In 2020, Legend famous in an interview with the Sunday Instances that he and West had been “in different places” of their lives.
