Kanye West Opens Up About Breaking Free From Alcoholism: “I Beat The Devil”

During an appearance at Awaken 2020, a large rally for prayer in Tempe, Arizona, West spoke on his renewed commitment to Jesus Christ following a performance of ‘Jesus Walks’ with the Sunday Service choir. West expressed to the crowd that he felt he was God’s Trojan horse. “They always say the devil try to play a trick on somebody, but it’s like God getting the last laugh,” he said. “I started with this song, and this whole time, the devil thought he had me … This a Trojan horse if I ever seen one.”

West went on: “He brought back my clarity. That’s where I found the truth. See, I’ve been the mental hospital and back, working for the devil. They didn’t think I was gonna get out. They had already grabbed the shovels. They said, ‘There’s something wrong with his head. So his career is dead.’… But Jesus saves. No matter how long you’ve been away, no matter how long you’ve been in the dark, the light is right there, ready to save—to give you the confidence.”

He then recalled the time when he was abusing alcohol and mentioned his infamous incident with Taylor Swift at the 2009 VMA Awards. “I never thought about the effect alcohol could have had on my life. I was drinking on the red carpet and then running on stage a few minutes late. And everyone around said, ‘Nah, he ain’t really no alcoholic.’ And then you get to the point where you’re drinking Grey Goose and orange juice for breakfast, thinking, ‘Nah, I ain’t really no alcoholic,’” said the rapper.

West has been very vocal about his issues dealing with alcoholism; as he said, it was God that helped him push himself to stop the disorder. “There was some vodka in the refrigerator at my office, and sometimes I would just go ahead and take a drink from it in the middle of the day, and I was walking toward that kitchenette area, and I stopped myself, and I said, ‘Devil you’re not gonna finna beat me today,’ And it’s something that we take on, day by day. Every day that I don’t pick up that drink, I beat the devil,” said West.