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Kanye West Denies He Said Slavery Was 'A Choice' In New Interview

'If you look at the clip you see the way my mind works.'

This summer, Kanye West did what many people thought was seemingly impossible: He made good on his promise.

Throughout May and June, the G.O.O.D. Music godfather produced albums for Pusha T, himself, Kid Cudi, Nas, and Teyana Taylor. Unfortunately, a fog of hurt, confusion, and resentment from fans still hung over the proceedings after Kanye's infamous TMZ statement in May that 400 years of slavery was "a choice." In a new in-depth interview with The New York Times, Kanye states, "I never said that" when asked about the controversial statement and gives more context to the comments he made at the time.

"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," Kanye said. "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."

As the conversation progresses, the ye artist continued to give context to his comments, but stated that he wouldn't back down.

"What I would say is actually it’s literally like I feel like I’m in court having to justify a robbery that I didn’t actually commit, where I’m having to somehow reframe something that I never said. I feel stupid to have to say out loud that I know that being put on the boat was — but also I’m not backing down, bro."

Thankfully, Kanye did take responsibility for allowing his "voice to be used" in a way that he describes as "not protective." Another eye-opening portion of the discussion happened when West shared that he was fearful that his wife, Kim Kardashian, was considering leaving him after the TMZ incident. West rapped about the moment on ye's "Wouldn't Leave," but shares how he called members of the family to see if Kim was done with the marriage.

"There was a moment where I felt like after TMZ, maybe a week after that, I felt like the energy levels were low," Ye said. "And I called different family members and was asking, you know, 'Was Kim thinking about leaving me after TMZ?' So that was a real conversation."

Read Kanye's entire interview at The New York Times.

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