Yung Lean was briefly associated with Kanye West last year. According to him, however, that didn't last long for a reason. During a recent appearance on the New York Times Popcast with Jon Caramanica and Joe Coscarelli, he opened up about what ultimately made him decide to cut ties with Ye.
“Kanye is mentally ill,” he explained. “I’ve been there and I feel for him, and I think all this stuff that he says about Jewish people—my grandfather was Jewish… I don’t know, I can’t defend him, but it’s a mentally ill person who still did ‘Flashing Lights.’ [… ] I haven’t seen him for a long time now, because it’s too much, I can’t really be around it.”
“When I was alone with him like three years ago and we just had dinner, it was lovely,” he continued. “It was fun. It was like two kids sharing ideas, and he has a big heart, and you can tell that it’s all good. But then, the next time I saw him, I could feel that the vibe had gone darker, and then the tweets started coming. It was too much."
Yung Lean & Kanye West
Yung Lean went on to clarify that his decision to distance himself from Ye stemmed from a need to protect his mental health, not his public image.
“I mean, the public sh*t, I don’t really care too much about, but I just felt like, ‘Oh, I’m being dragged into something that I’ve been dragged into myself,’” he said. “And the best thing I could do is not, you know, make a song with this man. It’s more like, ‘I’ve been manic, too, I’ve been psychotic. Lithium works, this works.’ But he’s not going to listen to anyone. And that’s his thing.”
Yung Lean later emphasized the fact that people can still be creative while treating their mental health issues with medication. “I’m not saying I have it figured out, but right now I feel very close," he added.
