Kanye West Was Off Meds, Which Could Have Prompted Slavery Rant, Per ‘TMZ’

Kanye West’s rant yesterday about slavery, after taking over TMZ Live, caused a lot of uproar, including concern that Kanye has gone off his psychiatric medication. While much of the response on shows like CNN Tonight With Don Lemon was about West’s statement that slavery was a choice, others close to Kanye West believe that this might be a result of Kanye being frustrated with his medication and stopping altogether.

‘TMZ’ Is Reporting That Kanye West Has Stopped Taking His Medication

TMZ is reporting that Kanye West stopped taking his meds, which resulted in his odd behavior and some of the peculiar things he said yesterday on TMZ Live about slavery, race, and his support of Donald Trump. People close to Kanye are saying that West wasn’t necessarily talking about slavery literally but rather as a metaphor for imprisonment, whether it be literal or imprisonment of the mind and a thought process.

Kanye West posted a Twitter explanation about his statements on slavery.

“The reason why I brought up the 400 years point is because we can’t be mentally imprisoned for another 400 years. We need free thought now. Even the statement was an example of free thought… It was just an idea.”

Part of Kanye West’s stream of consciousness on TMZ Live involved talking about abusing opioids and “taking pills” to avoid ending up in the hospital, says the Daily Beast. Kanye West inferred that taking medication or being drugged was just another way of being controlled by others. He also talked about the mental breakdown which led to his hospitalization.

Kanye West Inferred That Drugs Or Medication Was A Form Of Slavery

“The reason why I dropped those tweets and everything is because I was drugged the f**k out, bro, and I’m not drugged out! These pills that they want me to take three of a day, I take one a week maybe, two a week. Y’all had me scared of myself, of my vision, so I took some pills so I wouldn’t go the hospital and prove everyone right. We are drugged out. We are following other people’s opinions. We are controlled by the media and today it all changes.”

Kanye West was literally and figuratively all over the place, being unable to sit still and pacing all over the TMZ Live studio talking to staff members. Then, he asked to speak with TMZ head Harvey Levin. Kanye West continuously walked in front of the camera when others were speaking and checked his phone live on air.

Buried here Kanye says he is off his meds.
He alludes to pain meds, but says he has cut down meds that inhibit thinking. This is prob 4 bipolar disorder & he is having a manic run. We should give him space & maybe Kim can get him back on them.https://t.co/QQeFGfcOnc @dailybeast

— Rod Hillen (@yendorcire) May 2, 2018

People close to Kanye West were also concerned that he confessed on TMZ that he became addicted to opioids after having plastic surgery. West said he had liposuction because he was concerned that the public would think he was fat and mock him the way they made fun of Rob Kardashian’s weight gain on social media.

Kanye West Said On ‘TMZ’ That He Had Liposuction Due To Insecurity

The hour-plus that Kanye West spent on TMZ Live was provocative, but it also indicated a great deal of inner turmoil about his mental state. Most of Kanye West’s lyrics are admittedly autobiographical, and he has rapped about illicit drug use as well as the use of psychiatric drugs and his own instability.

“You ain’t never seen nothing crazier than this n—a when he off his Lexapro.”

Lexapro is an SSRI, a form of antidepressant.

Vox indicated that even though it was the slavery rant by Kanye West on TMZ Live that caught the world’s attention, his actions earlier in the week should have been the first indication that something wasn’t right. Last week Kanye West fired his longtime manager, Scooter Braun, taking to Twitter to liken management to control.

“I no longer have a manager. I can’t be managed.”

But Kanye West indicated that there is one person who he is still listening to and that is his wife, Kim Kardashian, who West says called him after one of his off the cuff interviews last week in order to get him to clarify his support of Donald Trump.

“My wife just called me and she wanted me to make this clear to everyone. I don’t agree with everything Trump does. I don’t agree 100% with anyone but myself.”