Kanye West opens up about his previous life, as he revealed that he was exposed to pornography from a young age and said he was addicted to sex following the death of his mother in 2007.
Kanye West opens up in his very candid interview with Zane Lowe on Apple Music’s Beats 1 Radio, which aired on Thursday (Oct. 24), where he explained on the origins of his addiction.
“Like for me Playboy was my gateway into full-on pornography addiction,” he explained. “My dad had a Playboy left out at age five and it’s affected almost every choice I made for the rest of my life. From age five till now having to kick the habit. And it just presents itself in the open like it’s okay and I stand up and say, ‘No it’s not okay.
Before explaining the outright roots of his addiction, Kanye explained his belief that sex trafficking can happen in a variety of ways.
“Yeah, when you see all of the billboards, the traffic billboards. When I say ‘traffic’ I’m talking about the billboards are actually sex trafficking,” Kanye said.
“On one side of the street it’s a billboard with spirits, which is alcohol, and on the other side it’s ‘call this number’ or it’s a picture of a woman on a billboard and says ‘come to this strip club.’ So there are all different layers of trafficking.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Kanye, who has been performing regularly with his pop-up Sunday Service events for the last several months, said that he plans to release a Sunday Services album called Jesus Is Born on Christmas. He describes the project as being his Sunday Service album.
On how he tried to ban premarital sex among those who worked with him on his new album, Jesus Is King, Mr West explained that people helping with the project were told to “just work and focus” on the record.
Discussing the production of Jesus Is King, West, said he asked those working on the album not to have premarital sex.
He said: “There were times where I was asking people not to have premarital sex while they were working on the album.
“There were times where I went to people that were working on other projects and said, can you just work and focus on this? I thought if we could all focus and fast – families who pray together stay together.“
Donda West died at the age of 58 after undergoing cosmetic surgery and her death had a profound impact on the musician.
“Some people drown themselves in drugs, and I drown myself in my addiction: sex,” he said.
During the interview, West also said he was “unquestionably” the “greatest human artist of all time”.
“It’s just a fact,” he added.
The controversial rapper also predicted he will one day be president of the US as he defended his support of Donald Trump.
West has attracted criticism for wearing a MAGA (Make America Great Again) hat and saying he and Mr Trump “are both dragon energy”.
He said he will not be forced into not sharing his opinions.
The 42-year-old also revealed plans for a future presidential run.
He said: “There will be a time when I will be the president of the US and I will remember… any founder that didn’t have the capacity to understand culturally what we were doing.”
And in a typically grandiose statement, West told Lowe: “I am unquestionably, undoubtedly the greatest human artist of all time. It’s just a fact.”
Jesus Is King, his follow-up to 2018’s Ye, will be released on Friday amid fierce anticipation.
West, who owns the Yeezy fashion line with sportswear giant Adidas, was taken to hospital in Los Angeles in November 2016, reportedly suffering from stress and exhaustion.
Reflecting on his struggles with his mental health, he said: “We’re making this money but I’m still ending up in debt.
“My public standing is all in shambles, I’m not in good shape, I’m having ups and downs with my health, people calling me crazy, people not wanting to sit and meet with me, all this is happening and I had to give it all up to God.”
Asked if he was okay with musicians using drugs in his studio, West said cannabis would be fine for medicinal purposes but drew the line at harder narcotics.
“We never have people doing hard drugs in our studios anyway,” he said. “I’ve never seen anyone doing cocaine in a studio of mine.”
And comparing himself to famed Serbian-American inventor Nikola Tesla, best known for his work with electricity, West said: “Similar to Tesla, I’m about lighting the world up.”
Talking about how he viewed his job, West said: “It’s not about entertainment, it’s about imagination. Witness the imagination and feel good. Know that things are possible, know that things you feel are possible. That’s my job, that’s what I’m here to do.”
Asked by Lowe if he had managed to “find peace” with the challenges in his life, including the death of his mother, West said: “I’m at peace. I give it all up to God.”