While many of us celebrated Thanksgiving yesterday by getting together with family and/or friends, Ye spent his Turkey Day sharing his “Thanksgiving Prayer,” a five-minute video in which the rapper speaks about what he’s thankful for, as well as his shortcomings.
A significant portion of the spoken-word piece (backed by some Sunday Service gospel music) is dedicated to family. The artist formerly known as Kanye West says, “All I think about every day is how I get my family back together and how I heal the pain that I’ve caused.” He later discusses the impact his politics had on his family: “Good Lord, my wife did not like me wearing the red hat. Being a good wife, she just wanted to protect me and our family. I made me and our family a target by not aligning with Hollywood’s political stance and that was hard for our marriage. Then I ran for president without proper preparation and no allies on either side. I embarrassed my wife in the way that I presented information about our family during the one and, thank God, only press conference.”
Elsewhere, he discusses his mental health, alcohol issues, and more, so watch the video above and find a full transcript of it below.
“Boom, boom, boom. Westside. Kanye West. Conway West Side. You never noticed that, did you?
The uh… Hello, my name is Ye and this is my super, super, super, super, super long Thanksgiving Prayer.
On this Thanksgiving, I’m so thankful for family, my blood family, my fans, and our haters. We love you, too. On Thanksgiving, on Christmas morning, not the night before or the day, just the morning.
We’re thankful for our current civilization of 8 billion people, our ancestors, and our children. I’m writing this prayer on my way back from taking my Mini Me to his first football game. Saint got to play catch with Tom Brady before the game. This is a God’s dream.
My Mini Me is a mix of two of my favorite things: Me and my wife’s face. All I think about every day is how I get my family back together and how I heal the pain that I’ve caused.
I take accountability for my actions. New word alert: Misactions. The one thing that all my successes and failures have in common is me.
Let’s start with A: alcohol. I would drink to take the stress away, to knock the edge off. Drinking affected my health and the health of people around… around me, because I already had a hair-trigger temper and this just heightened it.
B: episodes. I went into a manic episode in 2016 and I was placed under heavy medication. Since then, I went on and off the medication, which left me susceptible to other episodes, which my wife and family and fans have had to endure.
Ego. My ego has a tendency to go past the threshold of being motivating and entertaining to just being overbearing. There are ways to show confidence without arrogance.
Temper. Now I know, none of y’all would ever picture this, but sometimes I scream. And that screaming might have helped me tell off everyone who doubted me in music, but that screaming did not help me keep my family together.
Religion. Self-righteous Christian behavior. When I got saved, it did not immediately make me a better person. It made me a self-righteous Christian. Mix that with being rich, famous, and very, very, very, very, very attractive and you got a Molotov cocktail ready to be thrown through the window of anyone who ever disagreed with me. I was arrogant with my Jesus, like I just got me some Jesus at the Gucci store with a stimulus check.
Let’s go with politics here. Good Lord, my wife did not like me wearing the red hat. Being a good wife, she just wanted to protect me and our family. I made me and our family a target by not aligning with Hollywood’s political stance and that was hard for our marriage. Then I ran for president without proper preparation and no allies on either side. I embarrassed my wife in the way that I presented information about our family during the one and, thank God, only press conference. All my dad had to say afterwards was, ‘Write your speech next time, son.’
F is for finances. I spent money like crazy. I mean, it’s the craziest thing I’ve done, and I’ve done a lot of crazy things. As the priest of my home, I must watch my own money and secure our finances. This is America, so people don’t consider stealing to be stealing. They just chalked it up to greed, consumerism, and capitalism.
I’ve let people use me. I’ve had giant entourages. People around me just to make me feel good about myself. I’ve had to learn that I have to take accountability. We always judge and tell other people what they should do, but we can only take accountability for ourselves and our children.
This Thanksgiving, I’m thankful for the family that my wife has given me, I’m thankful for the life that God has given me, and I’m thankful for your time, attention, and patience. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”