Kanye West's right hand man Malik Yusef, a five time Grammy winner who worked on every The Life Of Pablo track, has detailed West's struggles with mental illness in an interview with the Drea O Show.

He did so while discussing the process of making TLOP.

"It's always the same, working with Kanye, you know, it's always very difficult, it's always a task of great arduity, it's always an argument it's always a fight," West's respected mentor expounded. "Sometimes even a genius needs to have direction. Sometimes it's hard to give a brain that big and that powerful some directions."

"[Kanye] doesn't take his medication because he chooses not to, and I applaud him for that. Whatever they prescribe you for like bipolar or schizophrenia, whatever they diagnosed him as but that doesn't mean anything," Yusef explains. "You know, they can diagnose you as all kind of stuff, that doesn't mean you have to adhere to those principles. And Kanye doesn't adhere to it."

Yusef is the second of 'Ye's longtime Chicago collaborators to speak candidly on West's mental state. Earlier this year Rhymefest got on Twitter and said that Kanye is mentally ill and needs help.

Yusef would disagree with Rhymefest on the "needs help" part, but he would agree that his long time friend faces serious mental health challenges.