Over the weekend, Kanye West sat down for an interview with BBC Radio 1’s Annie Mac, which will air in full on Monday afternoon. In anticipation, BBC has shared some excerpts from their conversation. Among the topics discussed: Kanye’s 2020 presidential run.

The MC apparently wasn’t joking when he announced his intention to run for Unites States president at the VMAs last year. Speaking to Mac, he clarified his reasons for wanting to run for the highest elected office, noting that he doesn’t have any “political views” but “a view on humanity.”



“We are numb, we’re numb to 500 kids getting killed in Chicago a year, we’re numb to the fact that it was seven police shootings in the beginning of July … we’re numb to places on the Earth that we don’t live — like our life is okay but it’s okay for other people’s lives to not be okay,” The Life of Pablo rapper explained to Mac.

“When I talk about the idea of being president, I’m not saying I have any political views,” he added. “I don’t have views on politics, I just have a view on humanity, on people, on the truth. If there is anything that I can do with my time and my day, to somehow make a difference while I’m alive I’m going to try to do it.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Kanye discussed his controversial 2015 Glastonbury performance. Despite a petition calling for the cancellation of his set, Yeezy forged on to dish out a 30-song set. But it was not without its hitches, as comedian Lee Nelson crashed the stage at the beginning of “Black Skinhead” and forced ‘Ye to start over. Being the self-described perfectionist that he is, the whole experience left him scarred.

“So it really put me into a slightly depressed state and it put me back in the position of when I was in high school and I got fired from my job, or when I played my music for R. Kelly and he told me he was going to sign me and then three months later I didn’t have any money I couldn’t afford a haircut, I couldn’t take my girlfriend to the movies and I’m still in my momma’s bedroom, working on beats and I was that close to being signed by R. Kelly … I don’t usually get nervous, I prepare, I get fully prepared.”

“When that music messed up in the beginning,” he continued, “it tapped into my nerves and when you’re nervous or vulnerable something special and something different can happen.”

The full interview will air later this afternoon on BBC Radio 1.