After months seemingly away from the spotlight, Kanye West is back and has plenty to say.
He’s returned to Twitter with tidbits and philosophy from the new book he announced he’s working on, has been wearing President Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” campaign hat, and managed to once more find a permanent spot in the headlines. Yes, he’s also been teasing new product from his Yeezy fashion brand and yes, he dropped two new songs: “Lift Yourself” and “Ye vs. the People.”
But in a new, nearly two-hour interview with Charlamagne Tha God, West opens up about wife Kim Kardashian’s robbery in Paris, his own mental health, his relationship to celebrities, and—because it’s Kanye West we’re talking about—Taylor Swift.
Also on Tuesday, West literally headed over to TMZ headquarters, where yep, he dropped some bombs the world likely wasn’t expecting. In addition, a video shared on his website finds him and T.I. exchanging ideas and producing “Ye vs. the People.” The Chalamagne clip can be watched below, but if you don’t have that kind of time, we summed up the most noteworthy sound bites from all three clips, below.
RELATED: What John Legend Privately Texted John Legend After His Twitter Spree
On that Taylor Swift scandal, and how it affected his radio airtime:
“Ever since the Taylor Swift moment, it’d never had been the same—the connection with radio. Whatever powers that be, it was much harder than that.”
On Kim Kardashian’s Paris robbery:
“The situation with my wife in Paris and feeling helpless…I went to Paris on that trip to protect her—not to protect her physically, but to go and help her with her look because she’s in Paris. One of the things that she heard was they were coming to rob her, but they had to wait until I had left.”
On wearing the “Make America Great Again” hat:
“Me putting the hat on forces an evolution because even for me, I know so much more in the past three days because I’m getting this energy, positive or negative, agreeing with me or disagreeing with me, and that sharpens our mind, our consciousness, the way we’re thinking, just breaking some sh—.”
On making controversial statements:
“There will be mistakes, there will be flaws in the way I communicate. Because we’re human beings, we’re flawed. I’m not media trained. I’m not studied in that. I’m not trying to say the right thing. I’m just trying to say exactly what I feel out of love.”
On what caused his mental breakdown:
“Fear, stress, control, being controlled, manipulation, like being a pawn in a chess piece of life. Stressing things that create, like, validation that I didn’t need to worry about as much.”
On President Barack Obama calling him a “jackass”:
“You know, he never called me to apologize. The same person that sat down with me and my mom, I think should’ve communicated to me directly and been like, ‘Yo, Ye, you, you know what it is. I’m in the room and it was just a joke…See, Obama came to me before he ran for office, and he met with me and my mother to let me know that he was going to run for office, because I am his favorite artist of all time. Because I am the greatest artist of all time. I’m just saying that it’s a flat statement, up to this point. After me, there will be greater, but this is Ye and this is past anything that’s happened up to this point.”
On his potential Presidential run:
“I might be President one day. I might be in that situation where it’s harder for me to explain to the masses why something isn’t happening that they feel a concept of a president should be able to fix. So to Obama, I would say, I understand bro. I understand.”
On Jay-Z and Beyoncé’s absence from his and Kim’s wedding:
“I was hurt about them not coming to the wedding. If it’s family, you’re not gonna miss a wedding. I’m not using this interview to put any negative things, but I gotta state my truth…”
On the future of Yeezy:
“Yeezy will eventually become like a relief company. If there’s a disaster we’re gonna dress. We’re gonna bring clothes and water. The same design perspective that can sell a $300 sweatshirt, we’re just going to give it. And eventually, that’s who we’ll be. You’ll look up, 5, 10 years from now, and Yeezy will be the biggest service provider of apparel.”
On Nicholas Ghesquière, Louis Vuitton’s women’s creative director:
“Nicholas is the God. He is the top, number one designer in the world.”
On, um, slavery:
“When you hear about slavery for 400 years. For 400 years?! That sounds like a choice.”
RELATED: Kim Kardashian Is Trying to Be Less Flashy
On rappers’ affinity for Trump before he became president:
“So many rappers—you’ll look at a video of Snoop Dogg loving Trump. But then he’ll get into the office and now they don’t love him. Trump is one of rap’s favorite people.”
Click Here: Putters
On the consequences of trying to make it in the music industry:
“It’s like boxing. More people end up retarded than rich.”
On why he was on opioids:
“I had plastic surgery because I was trying to look good for y’all. I got liposuction because I didn’t want you to call me fat like you called Rob at the wedding and made him fly home before me and Kim got married.”
On why he deleted old tweets:
“I was drugged the f—k out, bro… Y’all had me scared of myself, of my vision, so I took some pills so I wouldn’t go to the hospital and prove everyone right.”