Kanye West has addressed the controversial TMZ interview which saw him say “slavery is a choice”, explaining what he was thinking in that exact moment.
He shocked many fans when he made the comment back in May, and - as he later revealed on new album ‘Ye’ - wife Kim Kardashian was left distraught too.
Speaking to the New York Times, Kanye has clarified his point, stating: “I said the idea of sitting in something for 400 years sounds — sounds — like a choice to me, I never said it’s a choice.
“I never said slavery itself — like being shackled in chains — was a choice.
“That’s why I went from slave to 400 years to mental prison to this and that. If you look at the clip you see the way my mind works.”
Watch the original clip again below:
When pushed by reporter Jon Caramanica on whether he views slavery in the US as a choice, Kanye replied: “Well, I never said that.”
The rapper also described the fact he was misunderstood by the media as “awesome” before comparing himself to Nat Turner, a slave who led a rebellion in August 1831.
“I think that my personality and energy mirrors Nat Turner, or it had in the past, but that showed me that also that Nat Turner approach would land me in the same place Nat Turner landed, and that I would be legendary but also just a martyr,” he said. “But I guess we’re all martyrs eventually, and we’re all guaranteed to die.”
A week after releasing ‘Ye’ - which has numerous references to Kanye’s various dramas in its nine tracks - Kanye added a line about slavery to album opener ‘I Thought About Killing You’.
The updated version includes: “If I wasn’t shining so hard, wouldn’t be no shade, Buckwheat-ass n***a, it’s gon’ be okay. Sorry, but I chose not to be no slave.”
Kanye also altered aspects of his seventh album, ‘The Life Of Pablo’, after its release, adding closing track ‘Saint Pablo’ and making changes to ‘Wolves’ and ‘Freestyle 4’.