Kanye West has been courting controversy for weeks with his wild tweets, repeated praise of President Donald Trump and shocking confession that he got addicted to opioids after having liposuction.
But perhaps his most jaw-dropping comments of all came on May 1 when he sat down with "TMZ Live" and shared his thoughts on slavery. "When you hear about slavery for 400 years — 400 years? That sounds like a choice," the rapper-fashion designer said. "Like, you was there for 400 years and it's all of y'all? It's like we're mentally imprisoned."
Later that day, Kanye took to Twitter to explain and defend his comments — and the next morning, a new report from TMZ claimed he's no longer taking medication for mental health issues in the wake of a November 2016 breakdown that he has, in recent days, referred to as a "breakthrough."
"The universe has a plan. I knew that TMZ would be awesome," he tweeted.
"To make myself clear. Of course I know that slaves did not get shackled and put on a boat by free will. My point is for us to have stayed in that position even though the numbers were on our side means that we were mentally enslaved. They cut out our tongues so we couldn't communicate to each other. I will not allow my tongue to be cut," he tweeted.
He continued in a series of tweets, "Kanye vs the media is modern day Willie Linch theory. They hung the most powerful in order to force fear into the others. They can no longer stop our voice."
According to Kanye, "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. Once again I am being attacked for presenting new ideas."
He also suggested a name for the movement he says he's starting: "When the media masses and scholars talk about what started today. Here's a title … the overground hell road," he wrote.
Hours later, TMZ wrote that Kanye "is not taking his meds, and people close to him believe some of the comments he made on 'TMZ Live' were a result of that… We're told the meds have been problematic… doctors aren't even sure what works and what doesn't, and Kanye is controlling his own destiny by self-regulating… for better or for worse."
While speaking on "TMZ Live" on May 1, Kanye himself said, "These pills that they want me to take three of a day, I take one a week maybe, two a week. Ya'll have me scared of myself, of my vision… We are drugged out. We are following other people's opinions. We are controlled by the media. And today it all changes."
Sources close to Kanye also defended him to TMZ, explaining that the rapper has "talked about slavery before as a metaphor and was un-artfully expressing himself when he said slavery was a choice," TMZ wrote.