The moment Kanye West crossed the line with Jay-Z: “Now it’s a problem”
Kanye West and Jay-Z were once close friends and collaborators but have been caught up in a bitter feud over the years. While the pair have pushed through a lot during their two-decade plus relationship, there was one time Hov felt like he took things too far.
Jay-Z mentioned Kanye on ‘Kill Jay-Z’ from 2017’s 4:44 album, but he was adamant it wasn’t a diss track. He rapped on the song, “You ain’t the same, this ain’t KumbaYe/ But you got hurt because you think KumbaYe/ You gave him 20 million without thinkin’, he gave you 20 minutes on stage, fuck was he thinkin’?/ ‘Fuck wrong with everybody?’ is what you sayin’, But if everybody’s crazy, you’re the one that’s insane.”
During an appearance on the Rap Radar Podcast, Jay-Z revealed that he and Kanye West have gotten past many problems over the years, but the thing that crossed the line was mentioning his family.
“It’s not even about Kanye, it really isn’t,” he said. “His name is there, just because it’s just the truth of what happened. But the whole point is, ‘You got hurt because this person was talking about you on a stage.’
“But what really hurt me was, you can’t bring my kids and my wife into it, Kanye’s my little brother. He’s talked about me 100 times. He made a song called ‘Big Brother’. We’ve gotten past bigger issues. But you brought my family into it, now it’s a problem with me. That’s a real, real problem. And he knows it’s a problem.”
In response, Kanye West told Charlamagne Tha God, “It depends on how you look at it: if we’re brothers, we are family. Then it’s my family. If we’re business associates then it was too far.” Ye had previously called out Jay-Z and Beyoncé during a show in Sacramento, where he cut his performance short to make some comments.
“Beyoncé, I was hurt!” he said. “‘Cause I heard that you said you wouldn’t perform unless you won Video of the Year over me, and over ‘Hotline Bling’. In my opinion — now, don’t go tryin’ to diss Beyoncé, she is great. Taylor Swift is great. We are all great people, we are all equal. But sometimes, we be playing the politics too much and forgetting who we are — just to win.”
He added, “I’ve been sent here to give y’all the truth. Jay-Z, call me, bruh! You still ain’t call me! Jay-Z, call me! Jay-Z, I know you got killers, please don’t send them at my head. Just call me! Talk to me like a man!”
Jay-Z and Beyoncé didn’t attend Kanye West and Kim Kardashian’s wedding in 2014, which is something Ye was hurt about. Regardless of what they were going through in their relationship, Kanye felt like they should have shown up.
“Respectfully, I have to say I was hurt that they didn’t come to the wedding,” he said. “I understand they were going through some things, but if it’s family, you’re not gonna miss a wedding. I’m not using my interview to put out any negative things, but I’ve got to state my truth.”
When Charlamagne asked if they didn’t attend due to Beyoncé having an issue with Kim Kardashian, he said, “I’m not sure. I’m past it, but at the time I was hurt about it.” Kanye West and Jay-Z have never addressed the situation according to Ye, and he doesn’t think anything would fix it. “I haven’t seen him, but I can feel him,” he said.