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Kanye West is standing by his friend A$AP Bari, who is facing allegations of sexual assault.
Bari, the co-founder of hip-hop collective A$AP Mob, is being sued by a woman for $1 million (£762,000), after she claimed he walked in on her and his assistant making love in a Los Angeles hotel room last summer (Jul17), and demanded she have sex with him too.
On Wednesday (26Sep18), Kanye publicly showed his support for Bari, real name Jabari Shelton, in a post on Instagram, praising him for his "perspective and vision" and attributing much of the success of his new track with Lil Pump, I Love It, to the 26-year-old.
"There's no way I would have the number 1 record in the world without this man here," Kanye wrote. "He broke me out of my pretentious rich n**ga shell.
"Bari challenged me when no one else did and when he got in trouble I was scared to say he was my friend just like I did with xxx and that was some p**sy s**t on my part," he continued, expressing his regret for not speaking out in support of late rapper XXXTentacion, when he was accused of domestic abuse. "I let the perception and the robots control me. That's the true sunken place."
Bari, who denies the claims, was reportedly arrested at Heathrow Airport in May, and is now counter-suing the woman for defamation.
"Bari I appreciate your perspective and vision. You brought me closer to Rocky too. Jedis never let perception and cancel culture get between them," Kanye concluded.
Kanye is gearing up for the release of a new album, Yandhi, a portmanteau of "Ye" and "Gandhi," on Saturday, which is rumoured to feature collaborations with Chance The Rapper, 6ix9ine, and Lil Pump.
It comes just months after the release of his collaborative album with Kid Cudi, Kids See Ghosts, and his solo record Ye.