Kanye West did it again! But this time, he unleashed a full-blown social media tirade against his former friend Jay-Z and Beyoncé’s seven-year-old twins, Rumi and Sir Carter.
Kanye, who now goes by Ye, claims Queen Bee used in vitro fertilization to conceive her youngest children while questioning their cognitive development in a post on X, which was later removed and then reposted.
In fact, the rapper-record producer went on to post more content about the power couple in just over 20 minutes after facing severe backlash for his antisemitic, homophobic, and misogynistic remarks on the platform in recent weeks.
Kanye and Jay-Z once shared a close bond, transitioning from mentorship to friendship, but it has now evolved into a complicated rivalry.
So, dive into the tumultuous relationship between these two titans of the hip-hop industry.
The Start of Mentorship and Collaboration
Coming out as a talented producer in the 2000s, Kanye captured everyone’s attention with his work on Beanie Sigel’s The Truth in 2000.
He was then recruited to produce songs for Roc-A-Fella Records, which Jay-Z, Damon Dash, and Kareen “Biggs” Burke founded.
Kanye was listed to produce a song, This Can’t Be Life, for Jay-Z’s 2000 album, The Dynasty: Roc La Familia, marking the beginning of their professional relationship.
As their working relationship flourished, he became the label’s artist despite the rumors that Jay-Z did not want him to sign.
Anyhow, he cleared in 2009 that he only wanted to “keep the beats in-house, if anything.”
Come 2004, the controversial rapper released his critically acclaimed debut album, The College Dropout, which signaled the beginning of his successful career.
This also laid the foundation for the strong bond between the two artists, with Jay-Z becoming Kanye’s mentor and close friend.
The ‘Big Brother’
As their working relationship blossomed, Kanye and Jay-Z became friends and the former even chronicled their bond in his 2007 song, Big Brother.
The track is about a relationship that is both loving and difficult—like a bond shared between siblings.
“My big brother was B.I.G.'s brother /Used to be Dame and Biggs' brother,” Kanye rapped.
He also mentioned the one time that he asked Jay-Z for two tickets to his Madison Square Garden concert only to be told to buy them instead.
Jay-Z later clarified that he had given Kanye four tickets before he asked for two more.
A Collaboration to Remember
In 2011, Kanye and Jay-Z released their joint album, Watch the Throne, which became a collaboration to remember, spawning hit singles like No Church in the Wild and N——s in Paris.
This project showcased the two’s great lyrical prowess, helping cement their status as hip-hop titans. Thus, it was no surprise that the album became a critical and commercial success, winning seven Grammys and even going platinum.
This period marked the peak of their friendship, with both frequently appearing together at public events and showing support for each other’s projects.
The Rising Tensions
Despite the success of their album, tensions began to rise after the release of Watch the Throne.
This could easily be noticed in the absence of Jay-Z and his wife, Beyonce, from Kanye’s wedding to Kim Kardashian in 2014.
Though Beyonce sent well wishes in a post on Instagram, Kanye told GQ that the only important person he wanted to be there was Kim.
“That's all that matters to me,” he said.
Anyhow, after that incident, Kanye still became an ardent supporter of Jay-Z’s new venture, the streaming service Tidal, in 2015, but he started singing a different tune when he called out Apple to acquire the service in 2016.
“Apple give Jay his check for Tidal now and stop trying to act like you Steve,” he tweeted.
Public Feuds and Personal Disputes
During his 2016 concert in Sacramento for his Saint Pablo tour, Kanye revealed that his and Jay-Z’s daughters, North and Blue Ivy, hadn’t had a play date yet.
He also shot down the assumptions that there would be a Watch the Throne 2 album due to the Tidal and Apple problems.
To make matters worse, Jay-Z failed to reach out to Kanye after Kim was held at gunpoint in Paris.
“Don't call me, after the robbery, and say 'how you feelin?'” Kanye ranted. “You wanna know how I'm feelin'? Come by the house.”
As Kanye expressed his disappointment and even mentioned Jay-Z’s family, the rapper-businessman addressed the claims in his 2017 album, 4:44, particularly in the song, Kill Jay-Z.
In the track, he rapped about the change in Kanye’s behavior and the strain it put on their relationship.
Biggs also told Page Six about the conversation he had with Jay-Z about Kanye.
“We're both just like, 'We miss the old Kanye,'” he said. “At this point, with everybody's career, we're a little too old for rap beef.”
However, though Kill Jay-Z’s lyrics seemed to target Kanye, Jay-Z stressed that it was not a diss track but rather a reflection of his own actions.
Financial and Professional Strife
Kanye and Jay-Z’s feud took another turn when TMZ reported that Bianca Censori’s husband alleged Tidal owed him over $3 million.
There was also a claim that he tried to end his agreement with the music service, but the company threatened to sue him for breach of contract.
From there, Kanye officially cut ties with Tidal over financial disputes.
“Tidal's exclusivity rights have been terminated based on what is alleged to be Tidal's failure to honor its financial obligations,” a source told Billboard.
Returning to Speaking Terms
In a candid interview with Dean Baquet for T, The New York Times Style Magazine in 2017, Jay-Z revealed that he was back on speaking terms with Kanye.
“[I talked to] Kanye the other day, just to tell him, like, he's my brother,” he said. “I love Kanye. I do. It’s a complicated relationship with us.”
However, he also admitted there were “certain things” that happened he found hard to accept and needed to speak about it.
Despite that, there was still “genuine love” between them.
Eight years later, Kanye and Jay-Z still seem to be at odds with each other. He admitted to Charlamagne Tha God that their rift began when Jay-Z and Beyoncé failed to attend his 2014 wedding to Kim.
Though he said he had moved past it, his latest tirade seemed to reignite their feud.