Everything Kanye Discusses on Letterman’s Netflix Show: Drake Beef, Trump, Mental Health, More
Kanye West’s episode of David Letterman’s interviews series “My Next Guest Needs No Introduction With David Letterman” hits Netflix on May 31. In the episode, West sits down with Letterman for a conversation that opens light (family, his early career), gets more serious (mental health, his feud with Drake), and ends contentious (Trump, #MeToo). Here’s a rundown of every topic Kanye and Dave cover across the hourlong episode, which you can watch here on Friday.
His dream of a future where his grandkids can literally float: “Because it’s so unprogrammed and so pure. It’s like, ‘Look, granddad, I can actually float!’”
His diet and weight: Dave opened by asking Kanye about his breakfast that morning (fried eggs), how many meals he has in a day (three), and his weight (“about 20 over what I want to weigh”).
The songs he sings to his kids at bedtime: “I just freestyle,” he said. “But North is already in her, ‘Don’t sing that dad!’”
His relationship with his father: Kanye talked about reconnecting with his father and seeing his “genetic programming” through his actions. “My mom talked about moments where my dad ran onstage and grabbed microphones and did what he felt was right,” Kanye said.
The death of his mother: “It was a piece of my story. I wonder sometimes, when I heard about Michael Jordan’s father dying and at the point that happened in his career and the way it parallels to the point it happened in my career. You say the universe has no accidents, and you want to ask God why this happened, and you get into this place of acceptance with it.”
Going from producer to rapper: “I had the confidence, this delusional confidence, to think I could rap as good as JAY-Z—even to the point of not playing him beats and saving them for myself. People think I’m crazy now, they thought I was crazy then. ‘You ain’t finna play ‘Jesus Walks’ for JAY-Z?’ I was like, ‘Nah, I’ll stash this one.’”
His recent beef with Drake: After prefacing an anecdote by referencing “an artist which I will not mention because I’m not allowed to mention him or any of his family members,” Dave interrupted Kanye to call that description “fairly provocative.” Kanye explained, “Well, we had a little beef last year.” He then quoted a favorite line from “Crew Love.”
Lyrics that fans don’t agree with: Kanye said that when he tells his own story in a song, masses of fans relate to it. “But then people also latch onto that, and if you switch anything to the story of what you’re supposed to do, then you get this backlash. ‘No, you’re my avatar, you cannot say this, you cannot think that.’” He continued, “I have a friend who told me my power is my influence, and I said, ‘My power is the ability to not be influenced.’” Dave responded, “Wow, this is pretty good.”
His home: Kanye gave Dave a tour of his home, and showed off pieces by the artist Ueda. “You’re familiar with the cultural pursuit of wabi-sabi in Japan,” Dave asked. Kanye responded, “This is what this house is—wabi-sabi vibes.”
Letterman’s fashion: After Dave described his style as “Howard Hughes in the desert old coot,” Kanye replied, “That’s a vibe.” Then, Kanye started dressing Dave in Yeezy clothes.
Andy Kaufman’s influence: After talking about how he views the world from a very literal place in lieu of irony, Kanye started discussing Andy Kaufman’s stint as a wrestler. Dave, stunned, asked Kanye to discuss how Kaufman influenced him. “He gave me courage,” Kanye said. “How do you deal with the media? Here’s an example—I’d far rather be an Andy Kaufman than the majority of the way the media push them around. I’m in front of the joke. The joke is on everyone else.”
Hermés’ influence: He called his new fashion line “the Hermés of sportswear.”
Zippers versus Velcro: Dave asked Kanye, “If Velcro had been invented first, would there be zippers?” Kanye pauses, and said, “It’s really a deep question for me because we’ve spent a lot of time inventing something past the zipper.”
The quote on the cover of ye and being bipolar: Dave asked about the “I hate being bi-polar, it’s awesome” quote, which Kanye said he first saw in an Instagram post. Kanye also explained the experience of “ramping up”—the sensation where, he said, you could end up being hospitalized and “start acting erratic, as TMZ would put it.” He continued, “When you ramp up, it expresses your personality more. You can become almost adolescent in your expression or border into places.”
Wanting to change the mental health care system: After saying he sees psychiatrists in his own home, he discussed what it’s like to be “hyper-paranoid” and then taken to a hospital. “You feel everyone wants to kill you, you pretty much don’t trust everyone, and they have this moment where they handcuff you, they drug you, they put you on the bed, and they separate you from everyone you know,” he said. “That’s something that I’m so happy I experienced myself so I can start by changing that moment. When you are in that state, you have to have someone you trust. It is cruel and primitive to do that.”
Being misconstrued and written off as “crazy”: “They love to write you off. They love to cut your sentences off halfway. What you say doesn’t mean as much. Sometimes I think it’s a form of protection for me, because if I’m peeping something that people don’t want me to think about or know or say out loud as a celebrity, ‘Oh he’s just crazy.’ And then I go home. If they didn’t think I was crazy, it may be a problem.”
Discrimination against people with mental health issues: “This is a sprained brain, like having a sprained ankle” Kanye said, pointing to his head. “And if someone has a sprained ankle, you’re not gonna push on him more. With us, once our brain gets to a point of spraining, people do everything to make it worse. They do everything possible. They got us to that point, and then they do everything to make it worse.”
Medication: After saying that he’s been off medication for eight months, there was a light bit of applause in the audience. Kanye then addressed the people who applauded. “When people are schizophrenic and they have deeper forms of that, it’s people who can’t function without medication. So I’m not advocating—I’m telling you my specific story.” Dave asked Kanye if he worried about the creative process suffering because of medication. “Oh yeah,” Kanye said. “That’s just the reality. You know, if you guys want these crazy ideas, these crazy stages, this crazy music, and this crazy way of thinking, there’s a chance it might come from a crazy person.” Dave retorted that he also resisted taking medication for years because of that same fear, but later, he said taking the pills “was like getting a new pair of glasses.”
“I Thought About Killing You”: Dave called the song “menacing.” Kanye replied, “It’s a train of thought, but what’s cool is that it’s legal to have the train of thought. Think it all the way through. Don’t do it.” Kanye said he wanted it to be the first song on the album, coming off his infamous TMZ appearance, as a show of “bravery.”
#MeToo: Kanye talked about the fear held by men in powerful positions following the #MeToo movement. “We as a society are constantly in fear,” Kanye said. Dave responded, “Well you mention a general fear of the male side of this situation. I would submit that it’s not equal by any equation to the fear women feel being the other side of that.” The crowd then cheered.
“I’m definitely supportive of the women,” Kanye said. “What I’m saying is we’re not allowed to have any conversation. When you go to court, both sides can talk. This is a court of public opinion where when someone bombs first, the war is supposedly over.” Dave responded, “These lessons are learned slowly, and that may be the way it’s perceived now, but with future reinforcement and enlightenment, there may be a more reasonable expression of friendliness between the sexes that isn’t threatening to women.”
Donald Trump: “I got people that I work with—black, female, all different types of people—that love Trump, voted for Trump, scared for life to tell anyone,” Kanye said. Dave asked, “Did you vote for Trump,” and the rapper responded, “I’ve never voted in my life.” Dave replied, “Then you don’t have a say in this!” The crowd applauded as Kanye said, “You got me!” He continued, “But who says who has a say? Obviously I had a say when I said what I said.” Kanye then discussed his outrage that the 13th Amendment still exists “post-LeBron James, post-Obama.” He then called out the audience for “not clapping to that one.” And then they clapped.
Trump supporters: Dave discussed the attempt at voter suppression in the 2018 elections. “If I see a person I admire talking about how Donald Trump can think whatever he does, I wonder if those thoughts, indirectly, aren’t hurting people who are already being hurt,” Dave said. Kanye retorted by asking how Dave feels about Trump voters being treated as “enemies of America” because of their opinions. Dave responded that he understands the good faith logic of electing a businessman who promises to run the country like a business, but thinks that those people are being hurt because of that decision.
“Liberals bully”: “Have you ever been beat up in your high school for wearing the wrong hat,” Kanye asked Dave. Dave responded by joking that he was beat up because people didn’t like him. “The idea is the bullying,” Kanye said. “Well, definitely liberals bully people who are Trump supporters. It’s not just calm. You can’t just go and wear the hat. It’s like, ‘Fuck you! Fuck you!’ It’s like bro, I have. In America, we have rights and we have rights to open the conversation.” Letterman said there’s no argument there—things need to be discussed.
Sunday Service: Dave joined Kanye at Sunday Service, and later, conducted the live interview. “It’s just an idea that we had to open up our hearts and make music that we felt was as pure and as positive as possible, and just do it for an hour every Sunday and just have something where people could come together and just feel good with their families,” he said. He also discussed how the lighting was inspired by James Turrell and how the music is devoid of programmed drums. The episode ends with a performance of “Ghost Town.”
Originally Appeared on Pitchfork
