Daniel Johns praises Kanye West: 'I think he raises a lot of good points'

In his new docuseries, Daniel Johns spoke about his admiration for Kanye West and the way he views mental health.

Last week, the singer confirmed his new three-part docuseries Inside the Mind of Daniel Johns, with the first episode premiering at the same time. As he explained about it, “it’s the deepest I’ve ever gone, I talk about everything.”

On yesterday’s second episode, as per NME, that included discussing Ye’s influence. Perhaps surprisingly, the rapper hailed Johns’ band Silverchair in a 2008 interview: “It’s good to challenge yourself, put yourself in a situation where you’re not the king of your castle – go to a completely different arena and say, ‘Man, I want to go up against Silverchair!” he said back then.

That definitely meant a lot to Johns. ““I still don’t believe it, even though people have shown me,” he said in the second episode of his docuseries. “I love Kanye West.”

He added that it was Ye’s thoughts on mental health that he particularly appreciated. “I know this could be controversial, but I think he raises a lot of good points, particularly around mental illness. I’ve had similar thoughts,” Johns said.

“I don’t want to quote him, but he said something like, ‘Sometimes the way people treat mental health is similar to if you got an Olympic sprinter with a broken ankle and forc[ed] him to run.’ And he said it right at a time where I was feeling that. As far as culturally relevant artists in our lifetime [go], I can’t think… We should consider ourselves lucky – he’s extraordinary!”

You can watch the full second episode below, with the Kanye West talk coming around 15 minutes in. The third and final episode of Inside the Mind of Daniel Johns will arrive on YouTube next Monday, September 5th (6pm AEST).