For Every Jay-Z Kanye West Diss, One Stands Above The Rest
Once upon a time, rappers Jay-Z and Kanye West had the kind of bromance that friendship goals are made of. Per Billboard, the two icons began collaborating when West was recruited to produce tracks for Jay-Z's Roc-A-Fella Records in the late '90s. Over the years, the hitmakers were candid about their successful working relationship as it led to their culture-defining album, "Watch The Throne." "It's just protecting the music and the culture. It's people that's in the forefront of the music [industry]," Jay-Z told OkayPlayer. "'Watch the Throne,' like protect it," he added. "You just watch how popular music shift[s], and how hip-hop basically replaced rock & roll as the youth music."
Both rappers were arguably at the top of their game when "Watch The Throne" dropped in 2011, but even leading up to its release, there were reports of trouble in paradise. In 2007, West released his third album titled "Graduation," which featured a track called "Big Brother" that was all about (you guessed it) Jay-Z. While lyrics like, "A idol in my eyes, god of the game," praised Jay-Z as a mentor and colleague, other lines referred to the duo's sibling rivalry. Big bro Jay-Z was all about the track, calling it "a fair portrayal from a little brother's perspective," but it signaled cracks in the pair's friendship.
Now, as we reflect on Jay-Z and West's relationship, let's take a look at what may have caused their feud — including the diss that stands above the rest.
Jay-Z skipped out on Kanye West's wedding to Kim Kardashian
After the massive global success of "Watch The Throne," Jay-Z and Kanye West's relationship seemed especially strong. Even so, the "99 Problems" rapper got candid in discussing challenges with the BBC's Zane Lowe. "[West's] going to challenge everything because he's really trying to test it and poke holes to make sure that it stands up," Jay-Z said, caveating that his collaboration with West was "a big brother thing and a respect thing." The pair's respective partners, Kim Kardashian and Beyoncé, had apparently bonded during the "Watch the Throne" tour — so it was especially surprising when neither Beyoncé nor Jay-Z attended West's wedding to Kardashian in 2014.
During a stop on his "Saint Pablo" tour in 2016, West shed light on the beef when he publicly slammed Jay-Z for not contacting him, per Rolling Stone. "I've been sent here to give y'all my truth even at the risk of my own life, my own success, my own career," West ranted. "Jay-Z — call me, bruh. You still ain't called me ... Please call me. Talk to me like a man."
After West's outburst onstage, a source told Page Six that Jay-Z "can't stand" West and that their friendship was "never what it seemed." Jay-Z appeared to respond directly to West's diss in his song "Kill Jay-Z," in which he rapped, "You ain't a saint / This ain't KimbaYe / But you got hurt because you did cool by Ye."
Apparently Jay-Z didn't reach out after Kim Kardashian was robbed at gunpoint
Though the rift between Kanye West and Jay-Z can be traced back to when Jay-Z skipped out on the wedding, things escalated when Jay-Z failed to reach out after West's then-wife, Kim Kardashian, was robbed at gunpoint in Paris. According to NME, while on his "Saint Pablo" tour, West told the crowd, "Don't call me, after the robbery, and say 'how you feelin'? You wanna know how I'm feelin'? Come by the house. Bring the kids by the house. Like we're brothers. Let's sit down ... I can't take this s**t bro. Our kids have never even played together."
But while West may have felt he and Jay-Z were close, a source told Page Six otherwise. "Jay can't stand him," the insider claimed. "He looks at him as this crazy, eccentric motherf**ker he can tolerate in small doses. Kanye is a nut job. Everyone knows that." Supposedly, Jay-Z had only "tolerated" West "because there was so much money to be made." According to the source, "Jay was like, 'I'm gonna knock this out. We're going to do a tour to bring in millions of dollars. I can tolerate that.'" Yikes!
However, West hinted at a possible reconciliation in 2018 when he posted a since-deleted Instagram of Jay-Z and Beyoncé, captioned, "famleeeeee" (via High Snobiety). Per TMZ, the rappers were seen greeting each other at Diddy's 50th birthday party in 2019, so perhaps they've buried the hatchet for good.