As we’ve learned over the last decade, when Kanye West speaks, there’s no telling what may come out of his mouth. Whether it be anti-Semitic comments, comments about politicians and social issues, or him airing out his grievances with certain rappers, seemingly no one is safe when it comes to the Donda rapper.
This time, two people caught in the crosshairs of commentary are none other than fellow music stars Cardi B., Teyana Taylor, Nas and Pusha T, who all found themselves fodder for conversation in newly leaked footage from 2018. Per Complex, the videos stem from an unreleased documentary that never saw the light of day—until now when it started making its rounds on X/Twitter over the weekend.
In it, Ye can b heard calling Cardi an “a plant by the Illuminati and calling into question her rise to stardom.
“Cardi B is a plant by the Illuminati. She don’t write her raps. She just there to sound as ignorant as possible and then make songs like, ‘fuck them and get some money,’” Ye said. “She has literally replaced Nicki Minaj, purposely that they put her there, and now she doesn’t know what to do, and she has no idea what the fuck is going on. She thinks it’s just a blessing from the universe. It ain’t no blessing from the universe.”
In a second clip, the “Stronger” rapper can be heard telling fellow label head Scooter Braun that he wanted off of his own label G.O.O.D. Music because he’s great and “good is the enemy of great” and vented his frustrations over giving some of his best beats to people like Teyana Taylor, rappers Pusha T and Nas.
“The fuck I’m doing giving ‘Wanna Love You’ to fucking Teyana? What the fuck am I doing giving that Daytona album to Pusha? What the fuck I’m doing bro?,” Yeezy said. “That shit was three Dark Fantasies that I gave away. ‘Cops Shot the Kid,’ Nas rapping all goddamn offbeat on it and don’t even want to shoot a video. Then shoot the video and don’t even tell me.”
He added: “These motherfuckers don’t appreciate me. These motherfuckers are trying to use me. I’m the greatest motherfucking artist living, and I can do everything.” Well damn, Ye. Tell us how you really feel.
To be clear, the song is actually called “Gonna Love You”and Teyana definitely did her thing on that record.
But perhaps what’s even more important is that none of the aforementioned artists seem to be too phased over what Ye said—especially not Cardi B. I know for a fact the “Bongos” rapper was unbothered because she was too busy getting her life and doing the #MuteChallenge at Beyonce’s last Renaissance World Tour stop.
Maybe we could all take a page out of her book and keep moving on with business as usual.