Kanye West spoke more about his mental health this weekend, revealing that he was recently diagnosed with a condition he calls a “superpower.”
West released his newest album, Ye, on Thursday. The record has gotten mixed reception, especially since West alienated many fans with his outspoken support for the president.
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After the release, he gave an interview with radio host Big Boy, where he said that he has gained a new perspective on his own mental state.
“I had never been diagnosed until I was 39,” West, now 40 years old, revealed. He only identified the diagnosis as a “mental condition,” adding: “But like I said on the album, it’s not a disability, it’s a superpower.”
While West wouldn’t name his “superpower” in the interview, he referred to himself as bipolar in his new song “Yikes.” The rapper mentioned his mental health in an adlib at the end of the song, where he praised himself in the third person.
“You see? You see? / That’s what I’m talkin’ ’bout / That’s why I f— with Ye / See, that’s my third person / That’s my bipolar s—, n—, what? / That’s my superpower, n—, ain’t no disability / I’m a superhero! I’m a superhero!”
The album’s impromptu cover, which West reportedly shot with his cell phone on his way to the listening party, references bipolar disorder as well.
“I hate being bipolar it’s awesome,” it reads in green text scratched over a mountainous horizon.
Later in his interview with Big Boy, West talked about his controversial TMZ interview, where he claimed that slavery was a choice for the slaves. He said that “completely redid the album” and “took out a bar” after the fiasco.
“It was just too sensitive,” West said. He went on to say that he felt “so blessed and privileged because think about people that have mental issues that are not Kanye West, that can’t go and make [an album] and make it feel like it’s all good.”
“Think about somebody that does exactly what I did at TMZ and they just do that at work, right? But then Tuesday morning, they come in and they lost their job and they can’t go back and make that. That’s why God put that on me at age 40,” he said.
The album also included a confessional verse about Kim Kardashian’s reaction to his public behavior.
“I said, ‘Slavery a choice,’ they say, ‘How, Ye?’ / Just imagine if they caught me on a wild day,” he rapped on “Wouldn’t Leave. “Now I’m on 50 blogs gettin’ 50 calls / Wife calling screaming saying we’re about to lose it all / I had to calm her down ‘cos she couldn’t breathe / I told her she could leave me now but she wouldn’t leave / This is what they mean for better or for worse, huh?”
