Kanye West Earns Major Backlash After ‘Drink Champs’ Interview

In an interview, earlier this week, with the popular podcast show Drink Champs, Kanye West, who also recently legally changed his name to Ye, laid something of scorched earth—name-dropping and criticizing some of the biggest artists in music.

West, who is one of the most successful artists on earth and is valued at nearly $2 billion net worth, also seems to be unstable in the way that he can’t help but cause controversy. Yet, the reactions he is engendering seem impossible not to note.

For example, popular rapper Soulja Boy went off on West, who publicly criticized Soulja Boy for his prospective verse on West’s latest LP, the largely-panned, Donda. West alluded to the fact that the track Soulja laid down was not good, therefore, it was not included on the album. He did finish up by saying that Soulja Boy was the future though. See the fallout on social media below:

Soulja Boy in return shared a video of his own. “You should of mother f**king text me that and say that verse wasn’t good,” Soulja said in the NSFW video filled with expletives. “Don’t get on no mother f**king public platform and say different from what the f**k you told me to my face. Tell me to my face it was trash.”

He continued, “Soulja Boy is the future? Shut the F**k up. You said my verse wasn’t hard. Who the f**k you think you talking to. Everything that come out of my mother f**king mouth is hard. What the f**k is you talkin’ ’bout Kanye West. Your album was trash. Your album wasn’t hard. Just because it’s your album doesn’t mean you get to pick what the f**k is hard. Put it out and let the people decide what the f**k is hard.”

But the beef with Soulja Boy is but one of the many earthquakes to come from the interview, which broke records for the show’s viewership (and is still climbing).

Newly minted Hall of Famer Jay Z was asked to comment on the fracas after West criticized the producer Just Blaze, who has been featured prominently on Jay-Z’s records, including his seminal album, The Blueprint.

“Just Blaze is a copycat, you know,” West said according to Revolt. “He get credit for The Blueprint, and I did the first half of The Blueprint, and he just copied my half. … I like the originators man. I don’t mind, you know, the copycats too, and—by the way—you just gotta say it like it is.”

When West’s interview was brought up in an interview with Jay Z, he had this to say, “Yea,  N.O.R.E. sent me a piece and … I’ve seen a couple of pieces. I think, you know, again, everyone is entitled to their opinion and everyone sees things through their own lens. Some of it could be true, some of it may not be true. But that’s the lens that you see it through. So you just speaking to your truth. The one thing I would say out of all the pieces I’ve seen, maybe the Just Blaze thing was a bit unfair because if you are creating an album and the assignment is soul samples, everyone’s comin’ with soul. You trying to make a cohesive piece of music. I don’t think anyone was copying. Everyone created for the project. The baby was The Blueprint. Everyone should be prized for what we created.”

Jay-Z speaks on Kanye West being on the Drink Champs podcast, Just Blaze, Bink and the making of The Blueprint pic.twitter.com/xdKmvXaTs4

— 🦃jordan (@JustJordan_925) November 5, 2021

West and soul singer John Legend also experienced friction when West supported President Trump. Legend apparently reached out to West during his public love affair with the former President. When those texts were leaked, the friendship fissured.

“Both John Legend and Big Sean, when I ran for office, got used quick by the Democrats to come at they boy that actually changed they life. … I don’t rock with neither of them, and I need my apologies,” West said in the Drink Champs interview.

There’s more (though, candidly, we wish there wasn’t). West also criticized the popular television show Saturday Night Live for prompting his ex-wife, Kim Kardashian, to say she divorced him. West noted, “I ain’t see the papers.”

West also took shots at the singer, Drake, who allegedly had an affair with Kardashian.

Photo by Rich Fury/VF20/Getty Images for Vanity Fair