Michael Bolton Talks Kanye West: 'I'd Like To See Him Chill A Little Bit' (VIDEO)

Michael Bolton hangs an award for Kanye West's "The College Dropout" in his studio, because the rapper and Jay-Z sampled one of Bolton's songs for the track "Never Let Me Down."

But Bolton admitted to host Abby Huntsman on HuffPost Live on Friday that he had to initally ask his children who Kanye was -- and offered up his real opinion on the "Watch The Throne" collaborators and the state of rap music today.

"What do I think of Kanye now? I think he's a very talented guy, and I'd like to see him chill a little bit," he said.

On his unlikely 2013 collaboration with Kid Cudi and transcending genre, Bolton added: "Kid Cudi invited me onto his new album and I did 'Afterwards' with him, it was fun. I think he's great. His energy is the right energy to me. Going back to Kanye and Jay-Z -- and Jay-Z I happen to be a big fan of -- in general, rap can push the wrong buttons with me primarily because of the association and the suggestion of a certain value of women. That's my biggest issue with rap. There's a kind of diminishing of self-esteem involved in embracing some of it."