I guess people know that I’m a Kanye Apologist about some things, which might explain why several people forwarded me this story to cover. Back in fall ‘16, Kanye West was in the midst of a nervous breakdown, or something adjacent to a nervous breakdown. He ranted and raved on stage during several concerts, and he eventually sought treatment. For months now, he’s seemed a lot better, a lot quieter, and a lot healthier. The state of Kanye’s mental health is no secret, but people debated whether we should hold him to account for the sh-t he said as he was spiraling out of control. I don’t think Kanye should be given a pass, but I also don’t think that we should “punish” him over and over for sh-t he said when he was just days away from checking himself into the UCLA Medical Center for treatment, you know?
Anyway, some of the most notable sh-t he said was about Jay-Z and Beyonce. Kanye ranted about how Jay-Z had disrespected him and his family, that their kids hadn’t played together, and that Beyonce apparently pulled rank about winning Video of the Year at the VMAs (something which no one cares about except Kanye, and maybe Taylor Swift). Kanye also bitched about Jay didn’t reach out enough after Kim was robbed in Paris, and on and on. Jay-Z made some references to the beef in his song “Kill Jay-Z,” and Jay also alluded to the ongoing dispute – and now lawsuit – involving Kanye and Tidal. Anyway, Jay-Z went on the Rap Radar podcast and they asked him about the Yeezy Beef. This is what Jay had to say:
“What really hurt me was, you can’t bring my wife and my kids 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,” Jay-Z said.
Adding, “You know it’s a problem because me and him would have been talked about it, been resolved our issues. 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.”
I get what Jay is saying and he’s being protective of Beyonce and there should be an unspoken agreement between men that no matter how bad it gets, you don’t sh-t talk a man’s wife and children. That being said… it’s not like Kanye only knows Beyonce as Jay-Z’s wife. Kanye and Beyonce have known each other and been friends for a really long time too. Kanye considers Beyonce to be like a sister to him. Kanye’s criticism was pretty specific: that if Beyonce was really his friend, she would spend time with the people most important to him, his wife and children. We can argue about why Beyonce doesn’t do that – likely because Bey thinks the Kardashians are tacky – but why isn’t that a legitimate reason for Kanye to feel angry? Friends spend time with their friends’ tacky wives and husbands all the time. (That should be a t-shirt.)
Speaking of crossing the line, Jay was asked about Solange and the elevator, and he said: “We’ve always had a great relationship… We’ve had one disagreement. Before and after, we’ve been cool. That’s my sister. Not my sister-in-law, no, my sister. Period.”
Photos courtesy of Getty, Backgrid and WENN.
Meh as an adult you don’t have to spend time with spouses if you don’t want to. Sorry but that’s ridiculous. I know someone married to an absolute @$$ of a person and I don’t hang out with them at all. I’ll hang with her 1 on 1 but I don’t want to be in his presence.
Onto the mental health thing. Having a mental illness is the lens for which some behaviors are exhibited. However we don’t know if that caused his rants or not. You can be a horrible person and still be mentally ill. It’s not a pass. Regardless if someone says or does something in the midst of their illness I would still expect an apology. It doesn’t excuse what they did or the feelings they evoke when they act out. So yes if Kanye had a mental break I understand it. But he still owes Jay-Z and Bey an apology.
I agree. Having a mental illness does not give you a pass. You have to take ownership of your behavior. He knows the difference between right and wrong.
As for them hanging out together, I don’t see an issue with not wanting to do that. The Kardashians are vapid and would totally exploit that relationship. Maybe she doesn’t want her daughter being influenced by them. Plus I don’t think Beyoncé and Kim have a lot in common. My understanding is that Beyoncé has always been cordial but I don’t think she owes her anything more.
ITA with your first paragraph. No one is obligated to spend time with people they don’t want to, and boundaries are not a crime. I’ve recently, intentionally put a LOT of space between me and a friend of mine, because our relationship started to get hella weird. She and her husband both have this habit of treating me like I’m either their personal assistant/servant or a 3rd spouse. Plus, she started making life choices I don’t support at all. So I distanced myself, as I have a right to do.
Yes, me as well, just this year past let go of someone. The final straw was when she referred to her son’s new GF as a “mix”.
as in “She’s a mix, her father is —- and her mother is —-”
like the girl was a dog. 🙁
Geez Archie. That’s awful
Certain cases… I agree. It’s about doing right by you. Principles. But, in theory becaise they’re “tacky” and not because they could be racist or sexist or actively belittle you… there’s the difference. Those examples and these bey Kim theories are not the same.
Agreed. Who in their right mind would agree to spend time with Kim Kardashian? I can’t blame him or anyone from distancing himself from Kanye. No beef with him personally, but simply for wanting to avoid the Kardashians and everything they stand for.
As an adult… what fantasy land do you live in and please… invite me!
You absolutely have to entertain their tacky SO. Because you like them and they want to include their latest whatever partner… And that’s just what you do as an adult and to be hospitable. Do I wish I could decline entry to my ex brother in laws latest annual c.f. that always aged at 22? Yes! But I and others do it as a show of caring, inclusion, and respect to family and friends.
Ummm, I actually disagree, and I’m a responsible grownup. There are SO many times in my life I did what I felt I had to, what was expected of me. One day I wondered why I was so unhappy in my life, and I realized I was doing way too many “shoulds” and not enough being true to myself. Now if my friend’s spouse is a jerk, I propose we have a girls night out, or we do something where I can distance myself from the boor. But in a case like Kim Kardashian, where your every get together can become publicity, and where she’s used her daughter like a fashion accessory, heck no. Beyonce all the way. And as a harsh but true afterthought, anyone of any age who rants publicly about being excluded just makes himself look more pathetic.
Well I get where he’s coming from but people with mental illness say some hurtful shit sometimes and it genuinely is their disease talking. Kanye is basically a poster child for that.
No matter how much the Kardashians try, they will always be fringe. There are no non-rapper or athlete A listers interested in being their friends because female a-listers know the game they’re running. No matter how much J Law claims she watches the Kardashians, she’s never going shopping with Kendall. Beyoncé worked too hard to let Kim into her circle. Clearly she tried, for the sake of Kanye. There were pictures of the couples together. Kim must have done something to make the Carters retreat.
I think they only spent time together when Jay-Z and Kanye toured Watch the Throne together. That’s where we got footage of them dancing together in the front row. Once the tour ended, we didn’t see much socialization between Kim and Beyonce. At the time Beyonce was just being cordial for the sake of Kanye and the tour, but once the tour ended that was it.
Kanye has been ranting and raving for years..way before he had any breakdown. If it was the other way around and jay had been ranting about kim, Kanye would be flipping out.
If I had a close friend married to a kardashian, I wouldn’t want to hang out with them either.
I don’t know about you, but I think it’s bad fing form to drop a formerly close friend who is quite obviously struggling, because you don’t like their wife. Add to that to comment on their mental health in a song…come on. That shitty shitty behavior.
I think that the issue goes way deeper than that. We are talking about people who have known each other for close to 20 years. Like he said, Kanye has said things about Jay Z publicly and in song for years, without any retaliation from Jay Z. Everyone reaches a breaking point. I don’t think the past 20 years have been smooth sailing with dealing with a personality like Kanye and this is a break, not a forever break though.
Jay even said that this happens with them often..disagreements that lead to breaks, this is just the longest one. You can’t force yourself to forgive a friend for something they did or said that hurt you, and you certainly can’t force your family to hang out with a friend and his family because he’s having a mental breakdown.
Friends spend time with their friends’ tacky wives and husbands all the time. (That should be a t-shirt.)…………….. LMAOOOOOOOOOOOfffff
When you have a wife that tells me to get over racism all the while cashing in on black culture, I say I don’t need nor want to hang out with you.
Yep! That’s reason enough for Beyoncé to avoid spending any time with Kim & her sisters. Also…JayZ can’t force his wife to be friends with Kim because that’s who Kanye chose to be with. That’s not how any of this works.
Exactly. Knowing anything about kim would make me stay far away unless our husbands are doing something together. Bey has been cordial but kanye expected her to bffs with her. Not how that works
Bingo! Jay-Z and Beyonce have gotten increasingly political (and good on them!) while Kanye made an appearance with Trump. Mental illness or not, I’d keep distance too!
Kim has proven to be racially problematic and willfully ignorant many times. I think it goes beyond Beyoncé just thinking she’s “tacky”. My understanding was that the Carters called but Kanye felt that they should have visited as well.
Another poster brought this up on another thread: why would Beyonce befriend someone who has made her fortune through using both Black people and Black culture as a foil for her own success?? Someone who treats Blackness as a costume that she can don and cast off when she tires of it, and uses Black people as accessories? Why would Beyonce want to befriend this person at a point in her life when she has doubled down in her identity as a Black woman?
We have been talking a lot about white supremacy of late but we have not been identifying the links between microaggressions and microaggressions. Because there is a connection between the behavior and attitudes of Kim K (and her family) which demonstrate that she thinks that Black people are less than her, and those who consciously subjugate and oppress Black, and other racialized, people.
That was me 🙂 I mean to me it pretty damn well self-explanatory and I said as a black woman I will never go out of my way to be friends with much less procreate with someone who uses my identity in such an ugly way. I also found it so insulting how Beyonce is compared as being no better than Kim K. It is so coded and ugly to me when I see those comments, especially when Kim K proved herself an apologist for Jeffree Star and told us, black people, to just get over his comments about inciting violence and misogynoir on black women.
I am over the excuses made for Kim K and her whole family. If other celebs can be dragged for appropriating black culture then she should be first in line. I think blacks also need to stop giving her and her culture vulture family anymore of our coins. I see too many blacks supporting this family. It needs to stop.
Millie,
I don’t know how to post an emoji of snaps but I am giving them all to you for this comment. Thank you for this!!!
as a whiter than white girl in my part of world, I totally agree with your thoughts that THIS is the reason Bey and Kim won’t ever work and shouldn’t ever work. I can’t understand how it’s not obvious. if someone stole my Slavic identity but sodestepped all the ugly that goes with it, I’d be pissed. I can not even imagine how much worse it is with Black identity, especially for women.
also, comparing Bey and Kim on level of talent and success is just offensive towards Bey.
Bravo Millie!
Brava, Millie.
I think Kanye is often and usually out of line, and his wife..well I don’t need to say it, but Jay-Z is shady as F.
It’s well known that at the start Jay-Z exploited Kanye (who was a bit of a geeky ‘loser’ and then signed Kanye to his label simply to keep him chained to the label with no intention of putting his records out – Kanye then put his record out behind Jay-Z and Damon dash’s backs blah blah.
I know we are duty bound to love Jay-Z and Beyonce, but I think he’s generally a POS. Remember this guy put out a record mocking his ‘little brother’s’ mental health, knowing full well that there are real mental health issues there. He has historically and consistently treated women badly. He’s done a good job of white washing his shit, but ugh, I find him vile.
WORD.
Co-sign. I love Bey (and I suspect Kanye does, too—a little too much), but Jay Z… no way.
All of this is rumor, but: Supposedly Kanye has been in deep, deep financial debt to Jay Z for years, and that’s the reason for Kanye’s paranoia and his public meltdown. If it’s true that Jay Z has “disappeared” other people—and that is indeed one of the rumors floating out there—then Kanye’s right to be scared of him. I actually always figured Yeezy married into the Kardashian family just so it would be that much harder to kill him (I assume the cameras never turn off).
I don’t know if there’s even a kernel of truth to any of this wild-eyed speculation—but if it’s true, at least, that Kanye has debts because of his unprofitable creative ventures, it would go a long way in explaining his tweets and his increasingly paranoid behavior. Honestly, it would even explain why Kim was targeted by that robbery in Paris. Shudder. Really unpleasant gossip, sorry.
He has been an a$$hole for a very long time. He has slut shamed Amber Rose, brought up her child, gone after his fans at his concerts, thinks of himself as god, and just been an overall egotistical jerk. That isn’t mental illness. I still don’t buy the mental illness excuse for his rant on jay z and Beyonce. I believe he was pissed off they don’t want anything to do with his wife and let out his true feelings.
That can be signs of his illness. He cannot control himself. I do not know much about his mental state but he is not well.
And had a wax statue made of her naked with her legs spread that he used in that rape fantasy video of his.
What….who did this? Explain or source or something
Lol… there is no source. Lightpurple is being extremely dramatic about Kanyes Famous video
Right, overly dramatic. The guy has nude statues made of several women, without their consent, and poses them, genitalia & breasts on display, in a bed with nude statues of Bill Cosby & Donald Trump and I’m the one being overly dramatic. Everything about it was rapey and disgusting but it’s Kanye so he’s given a pass as wide as the Grand Canyon. No woman should be depicted that way. No woman should be mistreated that way.
You can’t trust someone like Kanye. He says crazy stuff and flips out over little things. I would be anxious to have him around my child tbh. And Kim showed that she’s not trustworthy after she released that tape about Taylor Swift. I’m sure Beyoncé was thinking about all if any phone calls she had with Kim and what she said. Because Kim is a jealous person especially of Beyoncé. If she got a wild hair up her ass she could expose something on B. that B. doesn’t want exposed. You have to think about stuff like this when you’re in the public eye, especially on a level that Beyoncé & JayZ are. Kanye and Kim are just not to be trusted period.
Posted in the wrong spot
I don’t blame beyonce for keeping herself and her family away from that media circus that is the kardashians.
It’s getting harder to find ppl who really just want to get together and have a good time without needing to document on their various social media how much fun they’re having 🙄
I’m a little off topic but yes, so true to your comment “It’s getting harder to find people who really just want to get together and have a good time without needing to document on their various social media how much fun they’re having.” Even for life in the “burbs” let alone amongst celebrities. Everyone is a try hard and wants to show off their fabulous lives.
So true – everyone wants to present this fantastic image of their life, and it’s rarely the truth.
I completely agree with this. The Kardashian m.o. is to use anyone and anything, including those they marry and their own kids. I absolutely would not take my kids anywhere near them, and I would assume that every conversation, every contact is being recorded.
Did Jay-Z forget that Kanye has always been an obnoxious jerk? If he wants to talk about “crossing the line, ” what about when he raps about cheating on Beyonce? Jay-Z wants to defend and protect his wife, but then makes $ off of him cheating on her? That’s crossing the line too
Jay-Z song about cheating on Beyonce isn’t bragging. Did you even listen to it? He talks about regret and learning and growing from his mistakes so not sure your point is right here.
Kanye once freaked out when he thought someone talked about Kim but was actually talking about weed. Kanye knows talking about someone’s wife is crossing the line
I had to stop reading this post halfway because it’s all so very ridiculous.
People are still responsible for how they behave when struggling with mental illness. We shouldn’t continuously punish them for it, but they are responsible for reaching out and making amends when their behavior harms other people.
Coming from my perspective, as someone who’s parents both have mental issues, and a step mother who does as well, it’s vital to apologize to those of us who carry the burden. It’s not their fault, but it’s not mine either. and my father has said to me, when I was trying to explain that to him, “it’s a mental illness” and I replied it doesn’t excuse the behaviour, and he said “it doesn’t?”
no, it doesn’t. It doesn’t excuse my step mother locking the cupboard doors so I didn’t have access to food, because she swore my friend stole from them. wtf? I babysat and bought my food at school. no apology, ever, from her for that.
so, yeah, he does have things to atone for, and he needs to listen when people tell him.
Sorry you went through all that Archie. Hope things turned out a lot better for you after you left home.
Exactly. I don’t get why this is so hard to understand. A mental illness is not an excuse. I teach that to the kids I counsel all the time. You still have to take responsibility for what you do and say. To say Kanye has an excuse because of a mental break is stupid and frankly insulting to the millions of people that don’t use their illness as an excuse to be a jerk to others
” Friends spend time with their friends’ tacky wives and husbands all the time. ” The only time I spent with my ex’s friends wives was when we were at an outing together. I did not spend time one on one with the wives and their children. So I think Bey has a right not to spend time with Kim outside of going places as a couple. Kim is not Beyonce’s friend and doesn’t have to be,
I kind of think all parties involved are dbags for a variety of reasons, Kanye and his wife especially. But anyone making fun of mental illness needs a kick to the nads. Not cool.
It was the straw that broke the camels back in their shobromance. Sad
That implies some weird dynamics there. Is Kanye always supposed to be the one who apologizes first?
He’s the one that’s wrong in this instance….
Everything that comes out of the Jay & Bey Corp is so carefully manufactured, and why should this ‘beef’ with Kanye be any different.
Wasn’t there a rumor about him loaning Kanye a lot of money too? Money can bust a friendship apart pretty easily too.
I’m totally with you on this Kaiser.
Jay-z can miss me with the BS. HE doesn’t even respect his wife (or kid really) when he cheated on her constantly. Now he gets upset because Kanye had the nerve to speak about Beyoncé? Men are so funny to me. It’s like ” I can disrespect my wife and hurt my child’s mother by doing so but you can not say anything truthful about her that you may know”. Lol. What an ego.
Cheating on his wife constantly?
Any receipts, names, sources? Yeah it seems like you’re the one FOS.
Jess, did you listen to Lemonade? Lol
+1000 for Wow.
Jay is wildly disrespectful to women in his music. I guess he thinks it’s okay to hurt the rest of us but not his wife and daughter? Nope. Miss me with that mess.
I’m glad Jay said this. I’m a Bey fan and it’s annoying that she gets so much flak and she just never comments back. I know that’s part of her media strategy and just adds to her so called Queen Beyness but Kanye was wrong for this.
1. You can’t force your friends to like or be bffs with your partner. They’re cordial and polite. Leave it at that.
2. It’s well known that Jay and Bey were really there for Kanye when his mother passed. Theres a cute story he or someone tells about him and Bey playing Connect 4games constantly.
3. Kanye gets no pass from me, Kardashian wife or not. He has been extensively problematic in recent years. The feud with Amber Rose was disgusting. Based on that alone I’d have dropped his ass as a friend.
4. Kim and get family are all problematic too and have said and done their fair share of, at best, things I’d be uncomfortable with to be associated with them if I was a celebrity. Add to that Beyonce in particular keeps her circle small and the people she’s close to have been there for years. Sorry not sorry but I wouldn’t be rushing to make friends with the Ks who think nothing of calling their own mother a bitch and whore on TV.
Recently had a huge fight with a friend over her support of Donald Trump. Even when the finishing fight to a friendship seems strange, there is usually a large buildup to it. Sure Jay-Z is tired of doing the mending and needs Kayne to actually apologize.
Maybe the real truth is that they all kind of suck.