Kanye West‘s spate of antisemitic comments last year may have been motivated by his complicated relationship with Drake, according to Malik Yusef.
The US rapper and poet made the claim while appearing on the Rap Today With Francis podcast on Monday (September 25), when he spoke about West – who now goes by Ye – and his controversial comments about the Jewish community.
“I think they were for Drake,” he said (via HipHopDX). “That’s what I think. I don’t know who else you would say that was. I have never directly worked with Drake ’cause Kanye asked me not to.
“He said, ‘Please don’t go work directly with Drake.’ I said, ‘Okay.’ ‘Cause Kanye’s brother, but I love Drake too, though. He asked Travis [Scott] the same thing, but Travis said no.”
Yusef also questioned if West’s antisemitic remarks were legitimate. “He’s saying he’s attacked by the Jews – I don’t fucking know. I see him with Jewish people all the time. One night, when he was going through that rant, he was in a car with a Jewish dude, so I don’t know, man. I think it’s all entertainment. He’s an entertainer, he’s born to be an entertainer, and I think that’s what this shit is.”
The artist also shared that he felt Ye didn’t have any real reason to attack Drake, saying: “I think that Drake loves Kanye, and that Kanye hates that Drake loves him.
“I don’t feel like him being angry with Drake has any credence, because Drake has been nothing but kind and good and a good student of Kanye, so I don’t know where the anger comes from.
“’He took my style!’ Okay, cool. Drake takes everybody’s style. To me, Drake has his own unique style – it’s a hodgepodge of several different styles.”
West said that Drake is the “greatest rapper ever” in October last year, which came after the pair reconciled in 2021 after years of trading barbs, with the duo putting on the Free Larry Hoover benefit concert.
In July this year, it emerged that West once said that he believes Jewish people were “holding him back”, according to an interview in a new documentary. It followed a spate of anti-semitic comments which began when he tweeted that he was going to go “death con 3 [sic] On JEWISH PEOPLE” back in October 2022.
He has since been widely condemned by many figures in the entertainment world, as well as several political figures and organisations that represent Jewish communities, and has lost brand deals with Balenciaga, Adidas and Gap and had his honorary degree from The School Of The Art Institute Of Chicago rescinded.
Back in March, West then appeared to backtrack on his comments by saying he “likes Jewish people again” after watching Jonah Hill in 21 Jump Street.
The post Kanye West’s antisemitic comments were shots at Drake, says Malik Yusef appeared first on NME.
