“It does feel sad, sometimes shocking, to see where he is now,” singer tells the Times UK of his former friend and collaborator’s “descent”
John Legend has opened up about his falling out with Kanye West in a new interview, and speculated on the event that “accelerated” his former friend and collaborator’s “descent.”
Following a pair of self-released albums at the onset of his career, Legend received a major boost after signing with West’s GOOD Music; Legend’s major appearance was a feature on Slum Village’s West-produced “Selfish” in 2004, the same year Legend’s first LP Get Lifted arrived on GOOD Music, largely produced by West.
“Back then Kanye was very passionate, very gifted, and he had big dreams not only for himself but also for all the people around him,” Legend told The Times UK. “He had so much optimism, so much creativity. It does feel sad, sometimes shocking, to see where he is now.”
Legend and West later teamed for the latter’s “Blame Game,” and GOOD Music released Legend’s first studio albums, through Darkness and Light in 2016. However, it was in that same year that West’s support of Donald Trump emerged, which first sparked the rift between the two artists, with the pair falling out for good in 2022.
“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,” Legend said.
However, Legend added that he believes West’s downfall can be charted back to the death of the rapper’s mother Donda nearly a decade before Trump’s first presidency. “I don’t think we’re qualified to psychoanalyze [West], but after his mother passed in 2007 there was definitely a difference,” Legend told the Times UK. “His descent started then and seems to have accelerated recently.”