Kanye West’s Artist Says He Has a Point with ‘Hurtful’ Slavery Comments (VIDEO)

Kanye West’s longtime friend and G.O.O.D. Music affiliate Malik Yusef shared his view on ‘Ye’s slavery comments in a video posted by TMZ today (May 3). Although Yusef admits the comments were hurtful, he believes West could have made a more sound argument if he had time to develop his thought.

Due to the one-hour timeframe of TMZ Live, Yusef said that was not the “forum” the rapper/producer should have used to express his point. The 47-year-old agreed with West’s comments because he had a point about the “options” of slavery. A slave had the option to revolt but would do so depending on the choices available. “Options are your first platform,” he opined. “Then you make a choice based on your options. Then you make a decision on how to carry out that choice.”

The choices for slaves were not as black and white as West portrayed them. Yusef believes that the rapper oversimplified his view because of the time constraint. The pair reportedly had had conversations about slavery before. In the video, Yusef says the choices made available to slaves were rooted in the inability to read, venturing into the unknown and potentially endangering others.  Nonetheless, they were decisions that could have been made, according to the six-time Grammy Award winner.

Hear his thoughts above.