Kanye West once rejected Jennifer Lopez for his own music

Jennifer Lopez became a prominent figure in music during the late 1990s. The singer and rapper was a force to be reckoned with in the US and Latin America. The Puerto-Rican American star first garnered attention after her appearance in the 1997 musical Selena. The film was a smash hit and even earned Lopez a Golden Globe nomination. However, looking to cross into music as a singer, in 1997, the Bronx native landed a deal with Sony Music Group. Despite J.Lo being an amazing singer, she wasn’t quite good enough for Kanye West, who was going to work with J.Lo but decided his verse was too hot to waste on her song.

The strange incident occurred in 2005. When Lopez approached Kanye, he was working on his second studio album, Late Registration. He was highly focused on ensuring his project would supersede his debut, College Dropout, which was ground-breaking. However, the Chicago rapper still agreed to record a verse for Lopez’s ‘Get Right’ remix. ‘Get Right’ was the lead single for Lopez’s comeback Rebirth. The album was recorded following a hiatus she had taken after her messy divorce with Ben Affleck. For Lopez, the album signified a new beginning.

‘Get Right’ was an upbeat dance and R’n’B jam that peaked at number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100. Following the track’s success, Lopez and her label, Epic Records, decided the song should have an official remix to maintain the track’s presence on the radio and in the charts. Looking for a prevalent, high-profile artist, Lopez decided on Kanye. However, with time being of the essence, the singer couldn’t wait on Kanye, who was writing his verse slowly and begrudgingly. He eventually rejected the offer. Wanting the remix to get a swift release, the singer then called upon Fabolous, who happily hopped on the remix.

With a hot verse at the ready, the Chicago producer and entrepreneur realised it would work perfectly on his song ‘Gone’. The 2005 Kanye track featured Consequence and Cam’Ron. After nearly two decades, earlier this year Consequence spoke on how ‘Gone’ was created with HipHopDX. The New York musician explained how Kanye told Lopez he would only do the remix if Consequence was also featured. Breaking down the debacle, the rapper explained, “The first verse for ‘Gone’ was originally supposed to be on J.Lo’s ‘Get Right’ but they didn’t want me to be on it.” He continued, “At the time, they were just like, ‘We just wanna have Kanye on it’ and Kanye was like, ‘Yo, if Cons don’t do it, I’m not doing it.’”

Kanye went on to use the verse for ‘Gone’. You can see the video for Lopez’s remix with Fabulous and ‘Gone’ in the videos below.