Rapper Kanye West, spotted in downtown Chicago on Wednesday, said he had returned to his hometown to work on music with Chance the Rapper.
“I came out here with Chance to work on his album, and I’ve just been hanging out with my friends,” West told Fox 32 News.
It was a rare local sighting of West, who lives with wife Kim Kardashian West in California and spent much of the spring in Wyoming, recording his album “Ye.”
But the rapper told Fox he loves the city and plans on being here a lot more. “It’s a super inspiring place that made me who I am, and I believe there’s some work that I can contribute to,” he said.
.@kanyewest told us this morning he plans to spend more time in Chicago: "I believe there's some work that I can contribute to" pic.twitter.com/23uS6BkbOa
— FOX 32 News (@fox32news) August 29, 2018
Also Wednesday, West appeared on WGCI-FM (107.5) and apologized for his comments during a TMZ interview in which he said black Americans before Emancipation seemed to make “a choice” to be slaves. Earlier he had appeared wearing the Make America Great Again hat favored by President Donald Trump.
“I want to take this moment right now to say that I’m sorry for hurting, I’m sorry for the one-two effect of the MAGA hat into the slave comment,” he said. “I’m sorry to people who feel let down by that moment … I just appreciate you guys holding on to me as a family.”
The interview also gave West, a vocal Trump supporter, a chance to answer a question posed to him earlier this month on “Jimmy Kimmel Live.” Kimmel asked, “You’ve so famously and so powerfully said ‘George Bush doesn’t care about black people,’ [and] it makes me wonder what makes you think that Donald Trump does, or any people at all?” After West fell silent for several seconds, Kimmel cut to a commercial.
When the WGCI hosts brought up the same issue, West thought for 20 seconds before giving his answer.
“I feel that [Trump] cares about the way black people feel about him, and he would like for black people to like him like they did when he was cool in the rap songs and all this,” he said. “And he will do the things that are necessary to make that happen. Because he’s got an ego like all the rest of us. He wants to be the greatest president, and he knows he can’t be the greatest president without the acceptance of the black community.”
Kanye West apologizes for his “Slavery Was A Choice” comment. pic.twitter.com/zMpuG0XbTH
— KCivil.eth (@KarenCivil) August 29, 2018