Kanye West has boldly admitted that he is not a fan of Kendrick Lamar‘s music and wishes he was not featured on Playboi Carti‘s new album Music.
The long-awaited project finally arrived on Friday morning (March 14), several hours after its scheduled midnight release, and contains multiple appearances from the Compton rap star.
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Kendrick delivers a guest verse on “Good Credit,” on which he seemingly addresses Drake’s defamation lawsuit over his diss song “Not Like Us,” while he also has guest vocals on “Mojo Jojo” and “Backd00r.”
After its slightly delayed release, Kanye took to X (formerly Twitter) to share his intial reaction to Carti’s album — and he did not pull any punches regarding Kendrick’s contributions.
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Despite the fact that he has worked and toured with the Pultizer Prize winner in the past and even co-produced “Backd00r,” Ye wrote: “I DONT LIKE KENDRICK LAMARS MUSIC. HE RAPS VERY GOOD BUT I DIDNT NEED TO HEAR HIM ON CARTI ALBUM.”
Yeezy is, however, a fan of the songs “Crank” and “I Seeeeee You Baby Boi,” posting a screenshot of him listening to both along with complimentary captions.
This is not the first time that Kanye West has been critical of Kendrick Lamar in recent weeks.
Ahead of his Super Bowl halftime show in February, the Chicago rap legend suggested that Kendrick was being “propped up” by an industry that is selective when it comes to supporting Black entertainers.
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“DRAKE SAID KENDRICK HIT HIS GIRL. BUT THAT IS NOT RECORDED ON TAPE LIKE THE PUFF VIDEO. I AM IN LA RIGHT NOW AT THE 4 SEASONS. I AM RISKING MY LIFE TO TWEET THIS. SO WALK WITH ME. DRAKE SAYS KENDRICK HIT HIS QUEEN. THE WORLD SEES PUFF HIT CASSIE. KENDRICK IS AT THE SUPERBOWL. PUFF IN IN JAIL,” he tweeted during a lengthy and explosive rant.
He added: “THEY PICK WHICH N-GGAS THEY WANT TO PROP UP AND WHO THEY WANT TO PUT DOWN. AND WHEN THEY WANT TO. BUT ALL CELEBRITIES ARE SCARED AND SELFISH.”
Ye also called on his “No More Parties In LA” collaborator to publicly support Diddy, who is currently in jail awaiting trial on sex trafficking and racketeering charges, during his Super Bowl performance (a request that went ignored).
“KENDRICK LAMAR NEEDS TO SCREAM FREE PUFF FROM THE SUPER BOWL. AND WE ALL KNOW WHY. AND IM GOING TO RESPECTFULLY LEAVE IT LIGHT JUST LIKE THAT,” he wrote in a separate post. “BUT THATS THE HYPOCRISY. ONE N-GGAS IN JAIL AND THE OTHER N-GGA IS AT THE SUPER BOWL.”
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Despite his comments, Kanye later praised Kendrick’s halftime show as his “favorite” since Michael Jackson’s in 1993.
He also spoke highly of his performance in his feud with Drake last year, saying in an interview with Justin LaBoy: “If you rap against Kendrick, you will lose. This man does this. You know on Street Fighter, you get like a Chun-Li, you get a certain kick, and no matter what, you can’t beat that thing.
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“Joe Budden said, ‘Never rap against Kendrick Lamar.’ If you rap against Kendrick Lamar, it’s a difficult task.”
Ye did, however, claim that only he could beat Kendrick in a rap battle, adding: “But perhaps there’s something — I’m a psycho genius so it could be… [Do not rap against Kendrick] unless you’re a psycho genius like me.”
