Chance The Rapper, Twista Offer Prayers For Hospitalized Kanye West

By Stephen Gossett in Arts & Entertainment on Nov 22, 2016 6:11PM

Kanye at the album release party for "The Life of Pablo" on Feb. 11 at Madison Square Garden (Getty Images)

The latest turn in the strange, sad saga that has been Kanye West over the last 48 hours culminated on Monday afternoon with the now-more-polarizing-than-ever hip-hop icon hospitalized and under psychiatric evaluation.

Some reports used the word “exhaustion,” a word as loaded in these kinds of scenarios as it is ambiguous. And while some very reasonable West backlash has been brewing long before Kanye’s most regrettable rant—in which he said he’d have voted for Donald Trump, if only he’d bothered to vote—we’ve seen some ugly digs at what could be, for all we know, some manner of mental-health issue.

To that end, a couple of Chicago hip-hop greats—one old school, one new—both offered messages of support on Tuesday. While appearing on BBC Radio 1Xtra on Tuesday morning, Chance the Rapper offered prayers for West and floated the possibility of heading back to visit him.

“I want to extend a very special prayer to my big brother, Kanye West. I know there's a lot of weird folks out there but you already know that I'm a hundred grand,” Chance said, via Pitchfork. “I want to just extend this prayer and this love from all the way in Britain. We might come home early to see this man. Happy Thanksgiving."

“I think everybody goes through it," he added. "And I think right now, probably what he needs more than anything is his real, close friends and family around."

And as Fake Shore Drive pointed out, onetime frequent West collaborator and fellow Chicago hip-hop alumnus Twista posted an open letter to Kanye, also asking for prayers:

I woke up this morning and i felt the need to prayer for those who might not have a voice to pray. The music business is a very stressful business to be in, i been doing this for a very long time and believe me when i say it takes a very strong minded person to go thru the daily shit that you have to go thru. “the smile of a clown” a clown gets paid to make other people happy, even if that clown might be going through a mental break down, that clown can’t let the public see him cry or else he might loose the only job that helps him take care of his family.

the music business is all about profit and elevation, the more hotter you are the more money you make, the longer your career lasts. the only catch to that is no one stays hot forever, no one can be new over and over again, so now you have the pressure from your fans, record label, friends,family, bill collectors, and the media to keep making hot music and never get old. take a min and think about that, can you imagine the pressure and responsibility a person gotta have not only to be successful but also to stay successful too?

So today I pray for my man Kanye, and i ask everyone to do the same too, wanting help doesn’t show weakness, it actually shows character and it lets people know you too are you human and you too have feelings too. when the provider needs help, who can the provider turn too? When you have sooo many people that depend on you everyday, who can you turn to just to vent out to or just breath too without feeling weak to?

No one is perfect when it comes down to living life in general, so this morning i pray my homie. I pray that Kanye finds that one thing that money and fame can’t buy. #APeaceofMind Chicago Loves you bro, … Twista