Jay-Z Opens Up About Alleged Feud With Kanye West and Reveals "What Really Hurt" Him

Kanye had ranted about his former collaborator and wife Beyoncé onstage last November

By Corinne Heller Aug 19, 2017 6:04 PMTags
Kanye West, Jay-ZGetty Images

Jay-Z says Kanye West's rant against him last year hurt him because he brought Beyoncé into it.

Jay made his comments on the Rap Radar podcast on the rapper's streaming service TIDAL Thursday, marking his first remarks about Kanye's rant and his first interview since the June 30 release of his album 4:44.

Last November, Kanye unleashed an onstage rant about Jay-Z, with whom he has collaborated in the past, and Beyoncé at a concert, pleading with Jay to call him and accusing Bey of refusing to perform at this 2016 MTV Video Music Awards unless her "Formation" video beat him and Drake to win Video of the Year, which it did. Kanye then cancelled the remainder of his Saint Pablo tour and then checked himself into a hospital to treat exhaustion.

"You got hurt, because this guy was talking about you on a stage," Jay-Z said on the podcast. "But what really hurt me, you can't bring my kid or my wife into it. Like, Kanye is my little brother. He's talked about me a hundred times. He even made a song called ‘Big Brother.' We've gotten past bigger issues, but you brought my family into it, now it's a problem."

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"You know it's a problem because me and him would have been talked about it, been resolved our issues," Jay-Z continued. "And he knows crossed the line. He knows. And I know he knows. 'Cause we've never let this much space go between one of our disagreements and we've had many. That's part of who we are."

Kanye has not responded to Jay-Z's remarks.

Jay-Z appears to name-drop Kanye—and his and Kim Kardashian's toddler son—on one of his 4:44 tracks, "Kill Jay Z."

Its lyrics include the lines, "I know people backstab you, I feel bad too / But this 'f--k everybody' attitude ain't natural / But you ain't a Saint, this ain't KumbaYe / But you got hurt because you did cool by 'Ye / You gave him 20 million without blinkin' / He gave you 20 minutes on stage, f--k was he thinkin'?/ 'F--kin' wrong with everybody?' is what you sayin' / But if everybody's crazy, you're the one that's insane."

"It's not even about a Kanye diss. It's not a diss, I'm talking to myself the whole time," Jay-Z said on the podcast. "I'm not talking about Kanye when I say, ‘You dropped out of school / you lost your principles'—I'm talking about me."

"The $20 million thing shouldn't have been said," he added. "Sometimes, you go too far."

Jay-Z also talked about his infamous 2014 elevator altercation with Beyoncé's sister Solange.

"We've had one disagreement ever. Before and after, we've been cool," he said on the podcast. "She's like my sister. I will protect her. That's my sister. Not my sister-in-law. My sister."

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