In a lengthy and at times bizarre appearance on "The Joe Rogan Experience" podcast released Saturday, Oct. 24, rapper, designer and presidential hopeful Kanye West says he believes he's been called by God to become the President of the United States.
He also allows that he's open to running for a lower office, such as Governor of California — but only if "it's in God's plan."
Kanye, who's still running for president in 2020 despite not making it onto the ballot in many states, explained his White House bid in these terms:
"There couldn't be a better time to put a visionary in the captain's chair. I'm not here to down [Donald] Trump or down [Joe] Biden, I'm just here to express why God has called me to take this position," he said (per Variety's edited version). "I'm a great leader because I listen and I'm empathetic. I do believe in world peace."
Kanye also told the host that Trump's unexpected win in 2016 showed him, "you can win if you're coming from outside politics."
From there, the often disjointed and nearly three-hour long conversation delved into 'Ye's other political options, including the idea he could follow in Arnold Schwarzenegger's footsteps and become a popular governor in his home state of California, perhaps to gain some political experience before taking another shot at the presidency.
"I believe that my calling is to be the leader of the free world," Kanye explained, according to the Inquisitr. He added, "If it's in God's plan that part of my path is to be the governor then that's fine," before asserting that, "the ultimate service position is leader of the free world."
At other points in the podcast, Kanye suggested Bob Marley, Michael Jackson, Prince, Bruce Lee and Brandon Lee may have been murdered and said he believes Disney made "Black Panther" as a way of overwhelming the internet with a white man-made version of the concept, as a means of distracting people from Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton's Black Power political party of the same name.
Later, Kanye returned to his previously lodged complaints about how artist contracts work in the music industry, saying he simply wants to create a way for things to be "fair" for all parties involved.
"I'm not at war with the music industry. I'm just saying we need to innovate. When I posted my contracts, I had ten contracts that kept putting me inside a labyrinth and things we don't need," Kanye said.
"Prince would say we don't need the distribution part," he added. "I'm the kind of person where I'm not trying to eliminate anyone's job. There's a way both parties can be happy. These deals can be flipped in a way that they're just more fair."
He went on to imply those bad deals are to blame for his alleged lack of music-related income.
"At this point music loses me money," Kanye said. "Of my $5 billion net worth, music is negative $4 million."
To explain that math: Back in April, Forbes amended its annual billionaires list to include Kanye, who had reportedly failed to submit proper documentation proving his net worth. At the time, the outlet reported he was worth "a bit more than $1 billion."'
(That said, his businesses are certainly operating with more money than that. In early July, for example, a report from the United States Treasury's Small Business Administration showed the billionaire rapper's Yeezy fashion line had been awarded $2 to $5 million through the Paycheck Protection Program.)
Throughout all of this, the podcast host worked hard to keep things on track, and even complimented Kanye on the way his brain works, saying he's too often accused of "ranting" when he actually seems to have thought his ideas through quite.
"When I talk, it's not a rant," Kanye replied.
"It's a symphony of ideas. I just tell the truth and telling the truth is crazy in a world full of lies."