Kanye West, who announced last week that he plans to run for president of the United States, granted Forbes an exclusive interview where he dropped a few lines about current topics.
Along with telling the magazine that he no longer supports President Donald Trump, he says his previous plan of running for the office in 2024 has been abandoned so he could run this year.
Here are some of the things the billionaire rapper spoke on.
President’s son-in-law Jared Kushner on his thoughts on Black leaders:
“One time I talked to Jared Kushner, who was saying, ‘We don’t have Black leaders, we just have hustlers.’ Why? Because they killed all the Black leaders.”
The upcoming presidential election:
“I’m not saying Trump’s in my way, he may be a part of my way. And Joe Biden? Like come on man, please. You know? Obama’s special. Trump’s special. We say Kanye West is special. America needs special people that lead. Bill Clinton? Special. Joe Biden’s not special.”
President Trump:
“Trump is the closest president we’ve had in years to allowing God to still be part of the conversation.”
When he knew he’d run for president:
“It’s when I was being offered the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Awards at MTV. I remember being at my mom’s house, my mother-in-law, because my house was being worked on, she calls me ‘son’ and I call her ‘mom,’ I was in the shower, thinking, I write raps in the shower. It hit me to say, ‘You’re going to run for president,’ and
I started laughing hysterically, I was, like, this is the best, I’m going to go out there and they’re going to think I’m going to do these songs and do this for entertainment, how rigged awards shows are, and then say I’m going to run for president. And I just laughed in the shower, I don’t know for how long, but that’s the moment it hit me.”Rumors of Drake having the coronavirus:
“Chills, shaking in the bed, taking hot showers, looking at videos telling me what I’m supposed to do to get over it. I remember someone had told me Drake had the coronavirus and my response was Drake can’t be sicker than me!” (laughs)
Joe Biden:
“A lot of times just like political parties they feel all Blacks have to be Democrat. This man, Joe Biden, said
if you don’t vote for me, then you are not Black. Well, act like we didn’t hear that? We act like we didn’t hear that man say that? That man said that. It’s a rap. We gonna walk, all the people. Jay-Z said it best. For the other candidates, I just gracefully suggest y’all bow out—Trump and Biden, gracefully bow out. It’s God’s country, we are doing everything in service to God, nobody but God no more. I am in service of our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ, and I put everything I get on the line to serve God.”Police brutality:
“One of my to-do lists is to end police brutality. The police are people, too. To end laws that don’t make sense. Like, in the George Floyd case, there was a Black guy that went to jail and it was his first day on the force. So if it’s your first day on the force and it’s your training day, and this OG-accredited cop with 18 violations already starts filing out, are you going to jump in front of that person and lose your job that same day? Especially in this climate when 40,000 people lost their jobs? This man was put in a position where—and also he probably didn’t realize that the cop was going to take it that far, he probably was so scared, in shock, paralyzed, like so many Black people. I’m one of the few Black people that would speak openly like this.”