
Kanye West, now known as Ye, has revealed that he and Jay-Z clashed over a lyric in their 2021 collaboration "Jail," featured on Ye's Donda album.
The line that caused the tension referenced Ye's support for Donald Trump and his choice to wear the infamous red "Make America Great Again" hat.
According to Billboard, Ye shared the story in a since-deleted post on X (formerly Twitter) on April 20. In it, he questioned why Jay-Z included the line, "Told him, 'Stop all of that red cap, we goin' home,'" in the song.
"Why did Jay Z have to say 'no red hat' on Jail?" Ye wrote. "That sh– tore me to my soul. We fought about it, and he told me either leave that line on there or take my verse off."
Ye, who began publicly supporting Donald Trump during his 2016 Saint Pablo tour, faced harsh backlash after wearing the MAGA hat in 2018.
He claimed that the hat represented him breaking free from outside influence. "Me wearing the red hat was the most stand out example of me going against 'the program,'" he explained in the post.
Kanye Says Jay-Z’s MAGA Hat Line on ‘Donda’ Track ‘Tore Me to My Soul… We Fought’
— Complex Music (@ComplexMusic) April 21, 2025
Full details here: https://t.co/COh1uKVo4J pic.twitter.com/xzRyqai1Ms
Ye Questions Jay-Z's Motives Behind MAGA Hat Line
Ye suggested that Jay-Z may have been pressured into including the line, asking followers, "Do you guys think he was instructed to say that?"
The song "Jail" signaled a short-lived reunion between the two artists, who had previously collaborated on the 2011 album Watch the Throne, Complex said.
While fans hoped the collaboration meant their friendship was back on track, Ye's recent comments reveal that serious tension remained behind the scenes.
The disagreement adds to the rocky relationship between the two rap legends, which has gone through years of ups and downs.
Earlier this year, Ye posted a string of troubling tweets targeting Jay-Z and Beyoncé's children, prompting outrage and public responses from figures like Suge Knight and Mathew Knowles, AllHipHop said.
Ye later issued an apology for some of his past comments about Jay-Z and his family.
Despite this, he continued to voice his disappointment over feeling abandoned by people he once saw as close, expressing that he had devoted himself fully to the industry and believed many within it were like family. Jay-Z has not responded to Ye's most recent claims.
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