Kanye West has had some positive things to say about Kendrick Lamar over the past year, but apparently he’s now flipped on the Compton rapper.
Hot New Hip-Hop reports that Ye recently took to X (formerly Twitter) to affirm his disdain for Kendrick’s massively successful Drake diss track from last year. “I HAAAAAATED Not Like Us,” Ye wrote in a post.
Ye’s new comment comes after he previously praised Kendrick’s skills, while also claiming he believes he could beat the “Squabble Up” rapper in a battle. During an interview with Justin Laboy for The Download, Ye confessed that Kendrick is the best at what he does, saying, “If you rap against Kendrick, you will lose. This man does this.”
Ye also compared Kendrick to Street Fighter, saying that no can best lyrically, with one exception that, by now, you already see coming. “You know in Street Fighter, you get Chun-Li, you get a certain kick, and no matter what, you can’t beat that thing?” he began.
“If you rap against Kendrick Lamar, like Joe Budden said, ‘Never rap against Kendrick Lamar.’ If you rap against Kendrick Lamar, it’s a difficult task, but perhaps it’s something … I’m a psycho genius, so you know, it could be.”
Laboy responded by making West’s point back to him by urging: “Do not rap against Kendrick Lamar.” West, who only seems to hear the sound of his own voice then added, “Unless you’re a psycho genius like me.”
“So Kendrick killed Drake—he’s dead,” Laboy said, a sentiment with which West agreed, with a caveat. “Yeah, for now,” West replied. “You can’t ever count out Steph Curry. That man might get 200 points in one song.”
West then complimented both artists, saying Drake added “something to the algorithm to our frequency. He advanced us. Future advanced us and now Kendrick advanced the frequency.”
Part of me wants to believe that Ye is so shameless he couldn’t be hurt by Kendrick taking some shots at him on a track but, if I really think about it, that shamelessness might be his downfall.
It’s perceived shamelessness, because Ye only says what he knows will rile people up. He doesn’t really go full 8 Mile, like Eminem, and say all his shit before someone else can use it against him.
For that reason, there’s a lot that Kendrick could load up in his chamber, and there’s very little for Ye to use in return fire. That certainly wouldn’t stop him from trying though, likely to his detriment.
