Kanye West has angered a lot of people with his Twitter rants, but fellow rapper T.I. is not willing to turn his back on him.
“We, as the black delegation, cannot afford to lose Kanye West,” T.I. said during an interview Wednesday. “He is our Michael Jackson.”
T.I. sat down with New York radio hosts “The Breakfast Club” and talk turned to West.
The pair teamed up on “Ye vs. The People,” a song in which they debate West’s support of President Donald Trump.
T.I. said it was the fastest he has ever recorded a song and it came after a four-hour discussion with West.
He said he questioned West about his reasons for backing Trump, who is largely unpopular with the African-American community because of racially charged comments he has made and other issues.
“I said, ‘What’s up man? I’m sure you have a very logical explanation to all this,'” T.I. said. “Like, ‘what’s happening? What’s the punchline?'”
He said West’s answer was simple.
“He said ‘Man, just being a free thinker, man,” T.I. said.
When asked about famously wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat, West’s explanation was a bit more complex.
“Man, my subconscious spoke to my conscious and it just moved me to wear the hat,” T.I. quoted West saying.
Since then West has raised even more ire by saying slavery in America was “a choice.”
T.I., who met with the rapper before the slavery comment, said West didn’t really think about how his actions have hurt people. He said it’s difficult for most people to relate to how West thinks.
“A miniscule percentage of the population of the Earth that speaks the language of Kanye West,” T.I. said. “The things that come into his mind, once they hit the air it probably don’t sound the same to the average (expletive) that’s listening to it as it did in his head. So he needs kind of like a translator.”
