John Legend Admits That He & Kanye West Were Never Close Friends
Even during the early days, Kanye West was clearly “different.” Just being a producer-turned-rapper, Kanye was different, for the time. Now, it’s the trend for most rappers to double as producers, with J. Cole being among the most-prominent.
Kanye West came into the game as a part of Roc-A-Fella Records, but had G.O.O.D. Music, his own collective. Initially partnered with Sony, the collective had John Legend, veteran rapper, Common, GLC, another vet, Consequence, and others. The roster has since changed.
John Legend is among those original G.O.O.D. Music artists who have departed from the label. However, in the eyes of the media, he and Kanye have been as close as brothers. Barely a year ago, John Legend spoke on how he and Kanye became friends, but he’s now revealing he and Kanye were never close friends, in his interview with Vanity Fair.
Never the closest of friends, John Legend said Kanye’s support of Trump is beginning to put them at odds. In the end, John says he will always love Kanye, and he’s not disowning him but is just saying they were never the closest of friends.
Legend added that for as long as he's known Kanye, the rapper was never as into politics as he's recently been. "I think what was always challenging about it was Kanye has never been political," he added. "I don’t think he knows one way or another what policies of Trump’s he likes. He just kind of embraced Trump’s blow-it-all-up spirit and the energy of himself being countercultural in supporting him." Legend also saluted Kim Kardashian West's work with helping inmates gain freedom, "even if the clemency is won through [Trump's] celebrity-whore tendencies."
See John Legend’s Vanity Fair cover below: