Mike Tyson: I didn’t know why the hell I was going into a recording studio with Madonna

Mike Tyson is featured as a guest, allongside Chance the Rapper, on Madonna’s new song “Iconic” off the “Rebel Heart” album. While he hasn’t heard the finished track yet, here’s what he said in an interview with RollingStone…

Madonna calls you and tells you to come somewhere, you go. I didn’t know what the hell I was going there for. I’m just there having a good time and hanging out with Madonna. She has her producer there and I go into the studio and I didn’t know if she wanted me to talk or rap. I just go in there and start talking. I’m talking about my life and things that I have endured. I’m saying some really crazy stuff. It was really intense.
When I did it, I think about being some guy like [Benito] Mussolini and they’re really arrogant, but you try to come from a positive perspective and be uplifting. You watch Mussolini on television — even though we don’t understand what he’s saying — he is so mesmerizing. I look at myself in that way.
I know people may say ‘this guy’s a fascist’ and all this stuff, but man, you can take positivity from watching him. No wonder why Hitler was attracted to him. This guy’s a hypnotic figure. There’s so much pride behind what he’s saying. I’m not even Italian and I feel the pride he’s projecting. He had that street swag; he was doing this stuff with his hands and moving his head before it was even hip-hop.
Doing the song with Madonna makes me think this [music career] could really happen. Most guys that come in there drink a bunch of liquor or smoke 100 blunts. I just went in and boom, one take. Everyone thought it was cool.

What he had to say about Madonna…

She’s an awesome, serene person. She’s trying to do something that since the beginning of time has been the most difficult thing to do: Save the world. I commend her for that. She is a fighter in every sense of the word and from an intergalactic perspective.

Concerning Adi Lederman, the alleged hacker who stole Madonna’s songs…

It’s an invasion of privacy. It’s totally counterproductive to what our so-called constitution is all about. But I’m not in the position to pass judgment on somebody like that, but [what happens to him] shouldn’t be something nice.