Kanye West is the most dangerous co-sign in hip hop. He loves the genre, and has always been quick to heap praise on those who came before and after him. In the same breath, though, he will tear these same artists apart. Kanye West loves Drake and loathes him. He puts Kendrick Lamar on a pedestal yet bashes his involvement on certain songs. It's a vicious cycle, which is why West's alleged texts about the rapper of the moment, Playboi Carti, seemed plausible. West seemingly tore apart the rapper's Rolling Loud set, but in a shocking turn of events, denied ever being critical. Carti, it seems, is different.
Let's start with the alleged texts. A screenshot made the rounds on social media Sunday night. It showed an alleged text exchange Kanye West and Playboi Carti and it was not positive. West seemingly tore Carti to shreds for his stage presence and list of guest artists. "How you gon bring that many people on stage but not me," West allegedly asked. "Had a whole damn chessboard with all of those pawns." The, in what amounted to the most viral part of this screenshot, Kanye West decided to send a stray NAV's way. "You even had NAV up there," he texted. Only he didn't. The rapper took to Instagram the next day and stated that the screenshot was a fabrication. "This is not real," he wrote on his profile.
Are Kanye West And Playboi Carti Friends?
The internet has been of two minds about this development. One, Kanye West has usually been upfront about his feelings on certain artists. It wouldn't be the first time tore down someone he helped prop up. A small minority, however, suspect the rapper was being critical of Playboi Carti and simply backpedalling once the screenshot blew up. The former appears far more likely to be true. Especially given that Kanye West was literally involved with the creation of Carti's MUSIC album.
Kanye West co-produced the song "Backd00r" on the album, alongside Twisco, Keanu Beats, Nagra and Darius Rameshni. West's longtime collaborator, Mike Dean, also has production credits on the album cut "Rather Lie" featuring the Weeknd. Furthermore, Kanye West dubbed Carti a "don" in a since-deleted IG post, and claimed the rapper was a descendant of his own musical lineage. The love appears to be high at the moment, so we will take Ye at his word on the fake, albeit funny screenshot.
