Rapper Kanye West has been very effective at stealing the spotlight, grabbing headlines across every mainstream media platform, newspaper, and website.
After dropping a couple of new songs – one of which is used to justify his support of President Trump – West hopped on for a guest verse alongside rappers Travis Scott and Lil Uzi Vert for the new single, “Watch,” which is set to appear on Scott’s soon-to-be released album “Astroworld.”
On “Watch,” West refers to his opioid addiction, rapping, “Wanna know how I feel? Step into my minefield. Wanna know how pain feels? I got off my main pills. Bet my wifey stay close, she know I’m on my Bezos. Opioid addiction, pharmacy’s the real trap.”
In an interview with TMZ Live, West admitted that he got addicted to opioids after getting plastic surgery.
“I was addicted to opioids,” West said before turning to the TMZ newsroom, admonishing them. “I had plastic surgery because I was trying to look good for y’all. I got liposuction because I didn’t want y’all to call me fat like y’all called Rob [Kardashian] at the wedding and made him fly home before me and Kim got married. I didn’t want y’all to call me fat so I got liposuction, right? And they gave me opioids, right? And I started taking two of them and then drive into work on the opioids, right?”
Until this week, the public didn’t have any idea that Kanye was addicted to opioids.
In 2016, there were over 63,000 deaths from drug overdoses. Over 42,000 of those deaths came from opioid abuse – approximately 66 percent. Comparatively, just over 41,000 people died from breast cancer in the same year.
President Trump has called the opioid crisis a national emergency, “directing all executive agencies to use every appropriate emergency authority to fight the opioid crisis.”
Don’t get me wrong, President Barack Obama or Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton could very well have taken the opioid crisis seriously. However, to the public eye, Trump seems to have the opioid crisis higher on his list of priorities. Whether or not that’s true, perception is key. And it’s highly possible that Kanye West picked up on it.
In addition to being friends with Trump but saying he doesn’t agree with everything he says, Kanye could very well agree with Trump on this.
It’s not an astonishing revelation that solving the opioid epidemic is an issue that everyone wants to fix. However, for Kanye, who was deeply impacted by opioids, Trump is tackling an issue he cares about. You don’t have to like Kanye’s adoration of Trump, but you should at least respect it if that’s the case.
