Adam Levine of Maroon 5, left, and Kanye West perform onstage in New York City. Scott Gries / Getty Images / AFP
Adam Levine of Maroon 5, left, and Kanye West perform onstage in New York City. Scott Gries / Getty Images / AFP

Mawazine 2015: Adam Levine praises ‘genius’ Kanye West



Adam Levine has nothing but kind words for the much maligned rapper Kanye West. Speaking from the Mawazine Festival in Morocco on Saturday, the Maroon 5 frontman recalled how both artists first met to record the 2005 Kanye single Heard 'Em Say.

“He is a genius and — love him or hate him — he is brilliant,” Levine said.

“We were on the same flight to the MTV European Music Awards in Italy. I never met him before and he literally came up to me with this iPod and said “yo man, how are you doing? I am Kanye and I have this record and do you want to write this song together?” I said yes and we went to the studio. It was that easy. He is such a pure creative person and I respect that about him. Everything with him is so real and legitimate, I love that dude.”

sasaeed@thenational.ae