John Legend is opening up about how “sad” and “shocking” it has been to watch his old friend Kanye West’s “devolution” over the last several years.
In a new interview with The Times, the singer reflected on his history with the disgraced rapper, who helped launch his now-illustrious career when he signed Legend to his record label in the early aughts.
Legend is said to have officially fallen out with West in 2022, over his brazen support of Donald Trump, whom the “All of Me” singer is a fierce opponent of, but he first noted the rapper’s “devolution” after his mother died in 2007.
“I didn’t see a hint of what we’re seeing now, his obsessions with antisemitism, anti-blackness, and it is sad to see his devolution,” he said. While he doesn’t feel any of us are “qualified to psychoanalyse him,” he said “there was definitely a difference” after the personal tragedy. “His descent started then and seems to have accelerated recently.”
Before that, he said “Kanye was very passionate, very gifted, and he had big dreams not only for himself but also for all the people around him.”
Back in the day, Legend toured with the rapper as a vocalist and keyboard player, helping spark an interest in his own music after Ye’s The College Dropout sold 400,000 copies in its first week. “…all those people who turned me down suddenly decided that my music sounded a lot better than it did the first time round,” he said of the labels that denied him when he first came knocking.
“He had so much optimism, so much creativity,” he recalled. “It does feel sad, sometimes shocking, to see where he is now.”
Today, of course, West, who has since started going by Ye, is rarely out of the headlines for his increasingly controversial actions, from claiming “dominion” over his wife, causing concern for Bianca Censori’s well-being among fans, to swiftly swapping out his Yeezy stock for shirts decorated with swastikas after airing his Super Bowl ad—and that’s just a taste of what happened this year.
