Kanye West and Jay-Z's Weird and Complicated Relationship Through the Years

A young Kanye West first popped up on Jay-Z’s radar when he produced the 2000 Beanie Sigel track, “The Truth.” Sigel was signed to Dame Dash’s and Hov’s Roc-A-Fella Records.

Since he was impressed with West’s production skills, Hov gave him a chance and let him work on his fifth studio album, “The Dynasty: Roc La Familia,” which was released in October 2000. West only worked on “This Can’t Be Life” which also featured Beanie Sigel and Scarface.

In 2001, West’s role in Roc-A-Fella only grew more and he worked on several tracks on Jay-Z’s classic sixth studio album, “The Blueprint.” West produced four of the more popular tracks on the record, which included, “Izzo (H.O.V.A.)“, “Takeover”, “Heart of the City (Ain’t No Love),” and “Never Change.”

A year later, West officially became a part of the Roc and signed to Hov and Dash’s legendary record label. The moment Ye got his Roc-A-Fella chain was included in the “Through the Wire” music video.

In the 2007 song, “Big Brother,” West details his relationship with Jay-Z. While he discusses how much he idolizes Hov, he also says he wants to surpass him.

Jay and Kanye’s relationship reached its peak in August 2011, when they released their collaboration album “Watch The Throne.” The record produced several hit tracks including, “Otis,” “Ni**as in Paris,” and “No Church in the World.” They even went on a North American tour that lasted nearly a year.

Three years later, when Kanye and Kim Kardashian decided to tie the knot, Hov and Bey were noticeably absent from the wedding, leading people to believe there was a rift in their relationship.

In March 2015 it seemed that everything was cordial between the two. Kanye was present when Hov launched his new streaming service, TIDAL.

During a live show on the Saint Pablo tour, Kanye went on a long-winded rant where he shot down rumors about “Watch the Throne 2" and took shots and Hov for not checking up on him and Kim when they got robbed in Paris.

On Hov’s 2017 studio album, “4:44,” Hov directly responded to Ye’s rant. On the album’s intro, he rapped, “You dropped outta school, you lost your principles / I know people backstab you, I feel bad, too / But this f**k everybody’ attitude ain’t natural / But you ain’t the same, 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’?”

Just days after Jay-Z released “4:44,” TMZ reported that Kanye West wanted to end his deal with TIDAL. West was reportedly promised a bonus for bringing millions of subscribers to the new streaming service after the release of his seventh studio album, “The Life of Pablo.”

In a 2017 interview with the New York Times, Jay-Z said he and Ye were cool once again.

Hov said, “[I talked to] Kanye the other day, just to tell him, like, he’s my brother. I love Kanye. I do. It’s a complicated relationship with us … ‘Cause, you know — Kanye came into this business on my label. So I’ve always been like his big brother.”

He continued, “And we’re both entertainers. It’s always been like a little underlying competition with your big brother…So it’s like, we both — everyone wants to be the greatest in the world. You know what I’m saying? And then there’s like a lot of other factors that play in it. But it’s gonna, we gonna always be good.”

Currently, Kanye West is the biggest enemy in the music industry. In recent days he has taken shots at Kendrick Lamar, Future, Playboi Carti, Tyler, the Creator, and most importantly, Jay-Z.