Kanye West’s two-part appearance on N.O.R.E.’s podcast “Drink Champs” is still being discussed, ripped apart and analyzed amongst many on social media. Some 77 more minutes from the original Nov. 4 podcast were released on Nov. 12, and in them the Grammy award-winning rapper covered several hot-button topics, including would he ever participate in a “Verzuz” battle, thoughts on former employees, and more.
There appeared to be moments of transparency as well, including a point during the conversation near the 29-minute mark in which the “Jesus Walks” rapper opened up about his often analyzed bipolar disorder, stating that everyone is “on the spectrum” in some form.
“Only a couple of us went to the hospital or have been diagnosed with medication,” he doubled back before recalling his infamous 2008 run-in with paparazzi. Ye detailed the events that took place thereafter and how it “snowballed into” his diagnosis.
“When I slammed the paparazzi that day, they made me go to anger management,” the rapper revealed. “I’m sitting there with Amber Rose at the anger management situation and the anger management coach just keeps on hitting on Amber and then giving me some medication.”
The “Barry Bonds” emcee said the occurrence “was the beginning of my medication.” He added, “That was the snowball that ended up [with him] being eventually diagnosed with bipolar, which there’s a lot of people who will say, ‘I don’t believe that you are actually bipolar.’”
The Chicago native slammed labeling someone as “crazy” and calls it the “final cutoff” to dismiss someone. He continued, “Stop talking, stop thinking, stop feeling, you crazy. Stop being like — I don’t like that one Drake line, you crazy. Stop being like, damn, I was the Louis Vuitton Don, now he got Virgil and the Nikes at the same time, you crazy.”
He also brought up other examples including his 2020 presidential run. “Oh, you ain’t voting for Kamala, you ain’t voting for Biden, you crazy. Oh, you running for president, you crazy.”
However, Ye doesn’t seem to be letting the criticism get to him, citing his self-reported net worth of $9 billion. “OK, I’m crazy, but what y’all gon’ do about it? Oh, this sh-t over with now. I’m 9 billi crazy up out here.”
“Anytime somebody wants to, you know, say that I’m wrong about something, hide the truth, lie; they say, ‘Ye’s crazy.’ It’s just the ultimate final cutoff to not have to listen,” he added. “We were raised into this life racist, sexist, homophobic, but now also a phobia of things of mental health.”
Catch Kanye’s full “Drink Champs” part two interview here.
