<p id=”par-1_83″><a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/tag/kanye-west/”>Kanye West</a> has typically been assumed to have bipolar disorder, a diagnosis that <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/news/kanye-west-says-bianca-censori-knew-not-bipolar-disorder-educated.html/”>his current girlfriend Bianca Censori</a> reportedly disagreed with. But West’s alleged mental disorder has been used to explain or make sense out of many of the rapper’s antics over the years. If there was one person who felt they knew the source of West’s outbursts, however, it was the late Irv Gotti. Gotti, who worked closely with West, revealed what he believed was the true reason for the rapper’s attitude.</p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-what-irv-gotti-said-about-kanye-west”>What Irv Gotti said about Kanye West</h2>
<figure class=”wp-block-image size-full” id=”emb-1″><img decoding=”async” src=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/kanye-west-irv-gotti.webp?strip=all&quality=80″ alt=”Kanye West posing in a white t-shirt at the MTV Video Music Awards.” class=”wp-image-3791746″><figcaption class=”wp-element-caption”>Irv Gotti | Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic</figcaption></figure>
<p id=”par-2_58″>Gotti seemed to have tremendous respect for West and vice-versa. West debuted his song “Brothers” on Gotti’s hip-hop anthology series <em>Tales</em>, which solidified their relationship. In an interview with <a href=”https://thegrio.com/2019/07/02/irv-gotti-on-debuting-kanye-west-song-brothers-on-tales-and-yes-support-for-trump-he-knows-what-hes-doing/”>The Grio</a>, Gotti touched on what it was like working with West at the time. Additionally, the Murda Inc. founder offered his own perspective on the fashion mogul’s scandals.</p>
<p id=”par-3_14″>“Working with him, he dances to the beat of his own drum,” Gotti said.</p>
<p id=”par-4_30″>“He doesn’t like people telling him what he can and cannot do. He doesn’t care. You’re not going to tell him how to think or how to feel,” he added.</p>
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<p id=”par-5_147″>Gotti even questioned West’s feelings towards Donald Trump. West had been very candid about his and Trump’s friendship, <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/news/kanye-west-says-bianca-censori-teared-moment-donald-trumps-speech.html/”>even claiming he and Censori cried</a> during one of <em>The Apprentice </em>host’s speeches. Gotti felt that this, and many other of West’s outbursts, was just a ruse.<br><br>“He wants to be crazy because he wants people to think and feel that he’s a genius. I’ve been around him, I’m not giving him that out. You’re my man, you ain’t crazy. Shut up. You know what you doing. That’s not to belittle mental health, but I just feel and think Kanye is smart and he knows what he’s doing,” Gotti said. “If you want to stop wearing the hat you can stop wearing the hat. If you want to wear the hat to announce your rebelliousness to the way things are then cool. Take the backlash that’s gonna come with it.”</p>
<p id=”par-6_12″>However, Gotti clarified that his opinion of the “Monster” artist never changed.</p>
<p id=”par-7_32″>“He’s not a bad person. I love Kanye. Kanye is actually a super family man. He and Kim’s relationship is real. There’s real love there and they’re raising a family,” Gotti said.</p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-irv-gotti-credited-kanye-west-for-the-success-of-tales”>Irv Gotti credited Kanye West for the success of ‘Tales’</h2>
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<p id=”par-8_100″>Gotti admitted that getting West to commit to their collaboration for<em> Tales </em>wasn’t guaranteed even after they agreed to work together. <em>Tales </em>was a series that adapted hip hop songs into short movies that aired on BET. <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/news/irv-gotti-shared-worth-300-million-made-cheaper.html/”>Although Gotti made $300 million</a> off of his music career, he felt the real money was in the film industry. He expected <em>Tales </em>and other television projects to help put him on another plateau of success, which West’s involvement would help with. But initially, Gotti was worried West wouldn’t honor his end of the deal since the rapper was notorious for being unreliable.</p>
<p id=”par-9_28″>“Anyone who’s ever worked with Kanye knows it’s not done until that signature and it’s done. Because he will swerve,” Gotti said in an interview with <a href=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26L_OZtRnSU&ab_channel=HOLLYWOODUNLOCKED”>Hollywood Unlocked</a>.</p>
<p id=”par-10_23″>Still, Gotti continued working diligently on his BET show. When West finally came through for the producer, he took <em>Tales </em>to another level.</p>
<p id=”par-11_70″>“Kanye is a good friend of mine, and I gotta say thank you to him for giving me the record,” Gotti said. “And because he gave me the record, it turned my <em>Tales </em>thing into a huge thing. It’s now gonna be seen on BET as well as MTV, July 2<sup>nd</sup>. And it’s gonna be seen across the globe, across the world, on every Viacom network in the planet Earth.”</p>
<p id=”par-12_19″>Gotti went on to say that he doubted <em>Tales </em>would’ve exploded the way it did without the West record.</p>
<p id=”par-13_52″>“If I would’ve had a regular song, I don’t think Bob Bakish, the chairman of Viacom, does that. But because I have Kanye, I was like, ‘Yo, I gotta work my mojo.’ I was like, ‘Yo, if I get Kanye, we can’t be regular. We can’t do it regular,’” Gotti remembered saying.</p>