John Legend says it was “shocking” to see the public “descent” of his ex-friend and former business associate Kanye West after he went from musical genius to a controversial figure.

It’s no secret that Kanye was deeply impacted by the death of his mother, Donda West, in November 2007. Notably, John weighed in on the widely theorized belief that “there was definitely a difference” in Kanye from that point onwards in terms of his problematic behavior. “His descent started then and seems to have accelerated recently,” he said.

I didn’t see a hint of what we’re seeing now, his obsessions with antisemitism, anti-Blackness,” the Grammy winner said of his former relationship with the rapper.