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Chicago rapper, producer, and entrepreneur Kanye West has been around for much longer than people think. His rise to prominence as an emcee was actually something that Jay-Z was against when he first signed him as a beatmaker, and the release of his debut album was something he actively pushed for.

Jay-Z discovered Kanye through the Roc-a-Fella A&R Kyambo Joshua, who was also the CEO of a production house named ‘Hip-Hop’. Jay-Z used West’s beats from 2000, and the first Kanye instrumental the Brooklyn icon ever used was for his track, ‘This Can’t Be Life’.

Still, before long, Kanye was becoming one of Jay-Z’s favourite producers, and he even had half of the producing credits on Jay’s 2001 project, The Blueprint. That said, by 2002, West wanted to be more than just a producer; he wanted to be a rapper, and although Jay-Z was hesitant at first, in 2002, he signed West as an artist.

However, both Jay-Z and Damon Dash were still against him releasing an album. Kanye grew up in the Chicago suburbs, and although the Roc-a-Fella co-founders admired his skill as a producer, they weren’t sure he had the style or background to make it. Furthermore, they were unsure whether he had enough experience in the industry to be a star and it was only after College Dropout became a chart-topping album that they released they had been wrong all along.

In an interview, Jay-Z admitted they were worried about him going off to record an album instead of making instrumentals, stating, “We figured if we kept him close, at the very least, we’d still have some hot beats.” Still, after the release of College Dropout, “It went from scepticism to excitement”, according to the mogul.

Several years after the album’s release, Jay-Z said he was one of the first people to see the extent of Kanye West’s talent. Concerning the producer’s self-aggrandising comments about being a genius, Jay told Rolling Stone, “For me, [genius means] coming up with something so different and so full of emotion and truth. Kanye — I think I was the first to brand him a genius.”

Still, Jay-Z admitted that he wasn’t sure about West’s way of navigating fame, telling the publication, “Some of the things he says, it’s un­necessary because of the level of suc­cess he has attained” He continued, “But I know where he’s coming from. He’s fought all his life to tell people, ‘I’m great,’ so in his mind, he’s still in that fight. He wants to be the best in the world.”

Jay-Z and Kanye were once extremely close. Akin to the relationship between Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg, the friendship between Kanye West and Jay-Z was mutually beneficial and allowed both MCs to become moguls. Ye started off as Carter’s prodigal child. However, he quickly became an icon himself who has arguably made a more significant impact on hip-hop culture at large. Although the two created epic tracks together, such as ‘Otis’ and ‘N*ggaz In Paris’ their friendship began to deteriorate during the 2010s.

The two had a great relationship until around 2013, when they stopped being brothers like they had been before, and there has been distance ever since.