Rapper and self-described “creative genius” Kanye West appears to have found a kindred soul in Dr. Ben Carson, who he thinks is “brilliant.”
“As soon as I heard [Ben] Carson speak, I tried for three weeks to get on the phone with him,” West said in an interview with Vanity Fair published Thursday. “I was like this is the most brilliant guy.”
West praised the Republican presidential candidate in the context of his own aspirations for higher office. He told the magazine he was “definitely” still thinking about the 2020 presidential campaign he floated at last month’s Video Music Awards.
“I want everyone to win. When I run for president, I’d prefer not to run against someone. I would be like ‘I want to work with you,’” he said before going on to praise Carson.
“I think all the people running right now have something that each of the others needs,” West added. “But the idea of this separation and this gladiator battle takes away from the main focus that the world needs help and the world needs all the people in a position of power or influence to come together.”
Kanye even employed a phrase Carson is fond of there. After Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump criticized Carson as an “okay doctor,” the retired neurosurgeon told The Washington Post that he didn’t want to get into any “gladiator fights” with the real estate mogul.
