A Friends-to-Enemies Story: Delving into the Controversial Kanye and Jay-Z Beef Timeline

Two of hip-hop's most powerful figures have had a tumultuous relationship for quite a while now. However, recently, tensions grew even higher between the pair. Let’s look at the Kanye and Jay-Z beef timeline, which has long had the industry on fire.

Let’s take it back to the very beginning of this complicated connection.

Here are the highlights of how the once-unstoppable duo went from bop-making brothers to blow-outs beyond the beats.

Kanye and Jay-Z began mastering music together in the early 2000s under Roc-A-Fella Records, an imprint of the “Empire State of Mind” rhymer founded alongside executives Damon Dash and Kareem “Biggs” Burke in 1994. After Kanye produced a track for Roc-A-Fella lyricist Beanie Sigel’s 2000 album The Truth, the three-man team enlisted him to work on Jay-Z’s fifth studio album, The Dynasty: Roc La Familia.

In 2002, at Dash’s urging, Roc-A-Fella Records brought Kanye on, who was also an aspiring rapper (at the time), but there were rumors that (initially) Jay-Z wasn’t too fond of having the “Donda” phenomenon on the label.

“I had found out [Kanye] was trying to get a deal at Capital [Records]... [Jay-Z] wouldn’t sign off on his f**king budget,” Dash expressed in a 2024 sit-down with Cam Capone News.

In 2005, Jay-Z told TIME: “We all grew up street guys who had to do whatever we had to do to get by. Then there’s Kanye, who, to my knowledge, has never hustled a day in his life. I didn’t see how it could work.”

Kanye closed out his third album, Graduation, with a tribute to Jay-Z in the song “Big Brother.” He went in-depth about their ups and downs and how he idolized Jay-Z despite their differences.

An event that will (forever) be embedded in pop-culture history is when Kanye crashed Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards on behalf of Beyoncé.

When speaking of the controversy after the incident, Kanye elaborated in a 2010 episode of The Ellen Show, “I feel like, in some ways, I’m a soldier of culture ... I will feel convicted about things that really meant stuff to culture ... I’m sorry, I will.”

2011 saw the release of Kanye and Jay-Z’s collaborative effort, Watch the Throne. What started as an EP turned into a full-length project. Some of the body of work’s features include contributions from Frank Ocean, The-Dream, Beyoncé, Kid Cudi, and Charlie Wilson, among others.

“H.A.M.,” “Otis,” “Lift Off,” “Why I Love You,” “Gotta Have It,” “No Church in the Wild,” and their most celebrated, “N***as in Paris” all served as singles from Watch the Throne. The album debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200, selling over 400,000 copies in its first week. By 2020, it was deemed certified quintuple platinum by RIAA.

In May 2014, Kanye and his former bride, Kim Kardashian, lavishly tied the knot at Fort di Belvedere in Florence, Italy. The private ceremony ignited media mayhem for many reasons – one being that Kanye’s “big brother,” Jay-Z, nor his wife, Beyoncé, attended. It (of course) sent shockwaves through the fan community, as they’d grown used to seeing photos of Kanye and Jay-Z cliqued up.

Instead, Beyoncé issued a congratulatory post on Instagram, where she wrote in the caption to The Wests: “Wishing you a lifetime of unconditional love. God [bless] your beautiful family.” Attached was a family photo of Kimye and their first daughter, North.

In a 2018 heart-to-heart with The Breakfast Club host Charlamagne tha God, Kanye revealed how Jay-Z’s no-show caused the real rift in their relationship, even though he’d moved past it. He told the radio personality, “I was hurt about them not coming to the wedding. I understand they were going through some things, but if it’s family, you’re not going to miss a wedding.”

During his 2016 Saint Pablo Tour stop in Seattle, Wash., Kanye famously called Jay-Z out, addressing a slew of brewing issues. One, in particular, was Jay-Z not pulling up after Kim was robbed in France. “Bring the kids by the house! Like … we’re brothers!”

After the concert debacle, Page Six reported a source’s allegation that Jay-Z couldn’t “stand” Kanye. “He looks at him as this crazy, eccentric motherf*cker he can tolerate in small doses.”

Trouble struck when Kanye flamed the X streets with offensive mentions of Jay-Z’s 7-year-olds, Rumi and Sir, challenging the adolescents' mental abilities.

“Jay-Z and Beyoncé are aware of the posts Kanye has since deleted and are discussing how they want to handle this situation, whether that be privately and/or in a legal matter,” the source shared with Page Six.

We’ll see how this plays out.