Rapper Kanye West met this morning with President-elect Donald Trump at Trump Tower, where the two friends talked about “life” apparently.
The songwriter and his entourage entered the building around 9:30 a.m. EST and stayed for about 30 minutes, according to US News.
The Life of Pablo rapper, who resurfaced last week in Los Angeles following a hospitalization, did not answer reporters’ questions. His wife, Kim Kardashian West, was not with him.
Around 30 minutes later, West and Trump re-emerged in the lobby, where they posed for photos. But the rapper refused to answer questions about the purpose of his visit, saying, “I just want to take a picture right now.”
Trump later told the press that he had just talked “life” with West, whom he called a friend and a “good man.”
West, 39, caused controversy last month when he publicly declared that, had he voted in the 2016 presidential election at all, he would have voted for Donald Trump. That declaration from West, who once said that “George Bush doesn’t care about black people” during a 2005 telethon for Hurricane Katrina victims, shocked and angered many of his fans.
At that November concert, West said that he’s “glad Trump inspired racists to reveal themselves” and that he’s still thinking about running for president in 2020, a statement he made in August of 2015 at the MTV Video Music Awards. West also praised the power of music to unify people after a polarizing election, saying, “I’m not asking y’all on your opinions on who’s better, but there are people who voted for either side that come together for music.”
Shortly after he made those remarks, West cut a Sacramento concert short and had a public spat with Beyoncé and Jay Z. “Call me, brah, you still ain’t call me. Jay Z, I know you got killas, please don’t send them at my head. Just call me. Talk to me like a man,” he said.
West’s remaining 21 tour dates on his “Saint Pablo” tour were soon canceled. Then he was hospitalized on Nov. 21 to be treated for exhaustion and dehydration.
He spent more than a week at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, including Thanksgiving, and was released to continue treatment on an outpatient basis. On Dec. 9 West was spotted at a West Hollywood museum, sporting newly blonde hair, making his trip to Trump Tower his second public appearance since the hospitalization.
Reports that West and his wife are on the verge of divorce appear to be overblown.
Via the Daily Mail:
A source told People that same day that Kanye’s wife Kim Kardashian is annoyed at the rapper for not resting.
‘Kim still denies they are getting a divorce, but things are definitely not great between her and Kanye,’ the insider said.
‘Kanye is supposed to rest and focus on his mental health. Instead, he has had a very busy week and is done resting,’ the source continued.
Trump was asked about Kanye’s potential run for president last year.
“Well, he’s said very nice things about me in the past and he knows my daughter a little bit — Ivanka,” Trump told Rolling Stone in September of 2015.
He also hinted at what might’ve inspired West: “I was actually watching, I saw him [announce his candidacy on the VMAs], and I said, ‘That’s very interesting. I wonder who gave him that idea?'”
“He’s actually a different kind of person than people think. He’s a nice guy,” Trump said of West. “I hope to run against him someday.”
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