Kanye West is “going through the process” of recovery, as stated by his producer and friend, Malik Yusef.
During the 59th Annual Grammy Awards Sunday, Yusef was asked by PopSugar about the current state of Kanye’s health, revealing that he’s getting better but is suffering from memory loss.
“I’ve been to his house, sat down with him for about six, seven hours, just walking through his health and recovery,” Yusef told PopSugar. “His memory is coming back, which is super good. [He’s] just healing, spending time with his family. Saint is getting big and is walking, playing with toys, so that invigorates [Kanye].”
This feature originally appeared in the March 2017 Issue of ESSENCE Magazine.
Concern for Kanye began in Summer 2016 at the start of his Saint Pablo Tour, when performances were paused for his long diatribes about the music industry, the Black community and his art. At one point, he came after Drake, DJ Khaled, Jay Z and Beyoncé for different reasons. The tipping point was when he met with then President-elect Donald Trump to talk politics.
After the series of concerning public actions, the “Blood on the Leaves” rapper checked into UCLA Medical Center for a reported “temporary psychosis” caused by dehydration and sleep deprivation. A week later he checked out, under the care of his wife Kim Kardashian West. His tour was subsequently canceled.
Kanye has since deleted tweets explaining his meeting with Trump and plans to show his Yeezy Season 5 collection on Wednesday (Feb. 15) during New York Fashion Week.