Kanye West has broken his Twitter hiatus after nine days.
On Saturday, Kanye returned to social media after deleting his Instagram and Twitter accounts last week and posted a number of videos about mind control. The Yeezy designer posted two short videos and one soundbite before a longer selfie video that lasted nearly 10 minutes. In the main video recorded via Periscope, Kanye spoke at length about the mind and "unprogramming" ourselves.
"I just wanna talk about mind control. You know when people try to influence you through social media and try to tell you what to do, or if people post something that's positive on Instagram it gets taken down if it's not part of a bigger agenda," he began. "That's, like, mind control...That's the poison that's happening with social media."
The video was filled with tangential comments and non sequiturs, but ultimately, he kept returning to this greater idea of mind control and programming of the brain.
"I feel like when people try to tell me what to do, they're touching my brain," he said. "If someone tries to tell me what I can do, what I can wear, I feel like they're touching my brain."
He then provided some visual examples as to how it feels to have your brain touched. He explained, "Imagine cutting your skull open and someone touched your brain. Imagine how that would hurt you. That's how it feels when someone tells me what I can or can't do."
Kanye also criticized social media and its effect on users, especially when people care too much about how many followers they have or likes they get on a picture. "Social media is a lie," he told viewers. "Social media told you Hillary [Clinton] was going to win, and she didn't win. Social media told you nobody likes me, but everybody loves me. Everybody loves Ye."
He continued, "Unprogram your minds. Open your heart. Let your conscience be free."
While the majority of the video was extremely cerebral, The Life of Pablo rapper turned it into something more spiritual as well. He said he was "the best living recording artist" thanks to the "spirits that flow through me." He cited the spirit of Bob Marley and Tupac. "The spirits will give me new ideas. They're in the air. We don't own them, we are merely a vessel," he explained.
He created a mantra for himself as well. A few, actually. One was "Open up your heart. Let your spirit guide you. Let your conscience be free." The other saying was, "We are creative individuals. We work from our heart and our spirit. We're not corny."
Kanye pointed fingers at social media and the radio for cementing notions about the rapper in people's heads. He said in the video, "Don't get too gassed up when you hear other stuff on the radio. That's all programming. That's all part of a system to control your mind. To control my mind, to make me look like I'm crazy to you."
He confirmed he was in Africa, most likely finishing up his Yanhdi album, which was originally supposed to drop at the end of September.
On Thursday, Kanye visited the White House and notable Twitter user, President Donald Trump. The artist and the President spoke at length about criminal justice reform and how Kanye's Make America Great Again hat "gives him power." Kanye talked for over ten minutes, which Trump called "pretty impressive" and "quite something" when it was all over.
On Sept. 29, Kanye was booed after Saturday Night Live finished filming when he gave a pro-Trump speech onstage. He was the musical guest that night and was spotted around New York donning his MAGA hat.
Many celebrities have come out against Kanye for his overtly pro-Trump views, including Lana Del Rey and Chris Evans. SNL cast member Pete Davidson, who has been very open about his mental health struggles in the past, made a mental health plea to the rapper last week after Kanye announced he was "off of medication" during a TMZ interview.
Davidson urged Kanye, "There's no shame in the medicine game. I'm on 'em. It's great. Take 'em. There's nothing wrong with taking 'em."
When all of this was happening, Kanye's wife, Kim Kardashian, remained supportive of her husband. After his SNL dialogue, a source told E! News, "Kim always defends Kanye publicly and tries to be supportive."
The source added, "She believes Kanye is entitled to his opinion and can express it freely. She may not always agree with him, but she still feels he's allowed to believe what he wants."
Before his visit to the White House, Kim told E! News she was "proud" of what Kanye was doing. She said, "He has a really focused mission of what he wants to talk about, and I think the White House is really receptive to his ideas."