"It's sad to see him": John Legend says he feel sad to see Kanye West's 'devolution' 

John Legend expresses disappointment over Kanye West's 'devolution'.

Singer John Legend expressed his shock over the change in rapper Kanye West over the years. In an interview with The Times of London, the All of Me singer essentially mourned their friendship and passion from the 2000s.

“Back then Kanye was very passionate, very gifted, and he had big dreams not only for himself but also for all the people around him,” Legend stated. “He had so much optimism, so much creativity. It does feel sad, sometimes shocking, to see where he is now.”

“Kanye blew up after producing Jay-Z’s album ‘The Blueprint’ in 2001,” Legend further explained, talking about the start of West's career. “Then he experienced a buzz as a solo artist and the whole time I was travelling with him, doing shows with him, getting exposure not only as his singer and keyboard player but also as an artist myself. I had been turned down by labels everywhere. Then ‘The College Dropout’ sold 400,000 copies in its first week, everyone wanted to know what was happening in our camp, and all those people who turned me down suddenly decided that my music sounded a lot better than it did the first time round.”

However, John Legend wanted to remain unbiased and stated that no one is "qualified to psychoanalyse him."

“I didn’t see a hint of what we’re seeing now, his obsessions with antisemitism, anti-blackness, and it is sad to see his devolution.” Legend said. “I don’t think we’re qualified to psychoanalyse him, but after his mother passed in 2007 there was definitely a difference. His descent started then and seems to have accelerated recently.”

This is all in reference to the last few months where Kanye went on an antisemtic tirade, writing things like, “I’m a Nazi,” and even praising Adolf Hitler on X, writing, “Hitler was sooooo fresh.” Besides that, West had also withdrawn his apology to the Jewish community over his past antisemitic behaviour. In March, West wore a black Ku Klux Klan outfit, while adding on to his problematic behaviours, West also went public with his support of President Donald Trump, around the same time the duo's friendship fell apart.

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He recently also released a new single called “Heil Hitler,” with art that resembles a swastika.

Kanye and John Legend have shared quite a few collaborations in the past, from working on the same songs or featuring on each other's songs to even being signed to the same company at the beginning of Legend's career, the GOOD Music label. West handled the executive production and co-produced John Legend's breakthrough album Get Lifted. Their collaborations included Blame Game, Number One, Eyez Closed, and more.

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