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Kanye West
Versace show, Arrivals, Pre-Fall 2019, New York, USA – 02 Dec 2018
Kanye West was diagnosed with bipolar disorder two years ago. It would be crazy if any of us forgot how the rapper’s 2016 calender year played out. If you recall, he had that infamous “slavery was a choice” rant, he was proudly rocking that red MAGA hat, and he eventually ended up being hospitalized. At the time, it was reported he was hospitalized for “his own health and safety” after a medical welfare call. He ended up having to cancel concert dates until he got well.
Now, we know the YE rapper was having an episode, or several. After staying quiet about his diagnosis, the Grammy Award winning rapper is now getting candid about it all.
“If you don’t take medication every day to keep you at a certain state, you have a potential to ramp up and it can take you to a point where you can even end up in the hospital,” West told David Letterman in a Season 2 episode of the Netflix series “My Next Guest Needs No Introduction With David Letterman.” “And you start acting erratic, as TMZ would put it.”
The 41-year-old rapper shared what he goes through when he goes on and off his medication.
“When you ramp up, it expresses your personality more. You can become almost more adolescent in your expression,” West explained. “This is my specific experience that I’ve had over the past two years because I’ve only been diagnosed for two years now.” You’ll recall, Ye said he became addicted to opiods after undergoing liposuction.
“When you’re in this state, you’re hyper-paranoid about everything. Everyone — this is my experience, other people have different experiences — everyone now is an actor. Everything’s a conspiracy,” West shared. “You feel the government is putting chips in your head. You feel you’re being recorded. You feel all these things.
The “Ultra Lightbeams” rapper said doctors and the media have a way about labeling people with the “stigma of crazy.”
“When you are in that state, you have to have someone you trust. It is cruel and primitive to do that,” he continued. “They love to write you off. They love to cut your sentences off halfway,” he shared. “What you say doesn’t mean as much.”
“It’s a health issue that has a strong stigma on it and people are allowed to say anything about it and discriminate in any way,” West said. “This is like a sprained brain, like having a sprained ankle. And if someone has a sprained ankle, you’re not going to 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 they do everything to make it worse.”
Then, he said this:
“You have this moment [when] you feel everyone wants to kill you. You pretty much don’t trust anyone,” he added.
A lot of information is given and taken in from the rapper is nothing short of scary and troubling. However, when it rains, eventually the sun comes back into view. On the bright side, Ye credits his diagnosis for allowing him to create great music.
“That’s just the reality. If you want these crazy ideas and these crazy stages, this crazy music and this crazy way of thinking, there’s a chance it might come from a crazy person,” West said, laughing.
Sneak a clip of Ye talking about his late mother below:
Kanye opens up to David Letterman like you’ve never seen him on My Next Guest, streaming on @Netflix May 31. pic.twitter.com/44HG9skLXV
— Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) May 24, 2019
Peep the “My Next Guest Needs No Introduction With David Letterman” trailer below for a sneak at Kanye’s episode:
