“I related to Puff” — Kanye West tells DJ Akademiks why he supported Diddy amid the latter’s ongoing legal woes

Rapper and music producer Kanye West’s interview with DJ Akademiks is going viral. West spent a good amount of the roughly one-and-a-half-hour-long interview speaking about fellow rapper and producer, Sean “Diddy” Combs, who is currently awaiting trial on charges of s*x trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution.

In the uncut interview posted by DJ Akademiks to his X account on March 30, West can be heard sharing why he has been supporting the incarcerated Combs, who is also known as “Puff,” in the wake of his serious legal troubles. West, who appeared in the interview wearing a black Kl*n hood outfit, said,

“I related to Puff.”

West was referring to the termination of his and Diddy’s partnerships with Adidas and Diageo respectively. In 2022, The New York Times reported that the sporting brand, Adidas, cut ties with West and his brand, Yeezy, over the rapper’s antisemitic remarks. As per Variety, Diddy’s partnership with Diageo ended in 2023 when the former sued the liquor company for allegedly neglecting his spirits business.

While recalling the time when the brands cut ties with the two artists, West said,

“I really saw the comparison of me and Puff with the Diageo and the Adidas situation. Regardless if they could have locked me up for taxes and that they wasn't playing fair, like okay cool, fair deal, ‘you did good, we did good.’ It's like, ‘no, you leaving, you leaving with nothing. We have to destroy you.’”

Continuing, West accused the brands of allegedly exploiting their partnerships with black artists, saying,

“Even though they came and used us to tap into the culture and make money off of black people and people who enjoy black culture”

Apart from this, Kanye West also claimed to relate with Diddy over the latter’s charges of physically assaulting women, specifically his ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura, who Diddy was seen hitting in a video released by CNN.

Referring to the 2016 incident, West defended Diddy, saying,

“Then they pulled out a video with him and Cassie from 10 years ago, and then it made everybody be like ‘Oh, you know well Puff's a woman beater, so he's the devil, he needs to be in jail.’ Meanwhile, I don't know somebody who hasn't gotten into an altercation with a girl at one point and including Carti.”

West had previously gone on an X rant, accusing rapper and former collaborator, Payboi Carti, of “beating women” on March 18. West had been defending Diddy at that time as well.

This time though, West also referred to Diddy’s children and his former partner, Kim Porter, who died. West said,

“The two twins and Christian lost, they mama died and they daddy in jail and everybody running around listening to murder music right but being like Puff is the enemy. And when I see all these videos all taste everything, Puff more like my twin”

Kanye West and Diddy’s prison phone call

Earlier in March, a recording of a phone call between Kanye West and Diddy was released by The Shade Room. In the call, Diddy could be heard advising West. As per Page Six, Diddy, addressing West from a Brooklyn detention center, said,

“You be careful out there ’cause they definitely trying to end us…I’m going to beat this s–t and get next to you”

While the phone call revealed the close relationship between Diddy and Kanye West, The New York Post quoted a source who claimed that Diddy wasn’t aware that the call was being recorded.

Trending

Meanwhile, Rolling Stone noted that Kanye West dropped a track featuring his daughter, North, alongside Diddy, titled, “ Lonely Roads Still Go to Sunshine,” which prompted a conflict with West’s ex-wife, Kim Kardashian.

×

Was this article helpful?

Thank You for feedback