Kanye West dropped Taylor Swift’s name again in a new song during his Vultures listening experience in NYC on Friday in support of the album’s release with Ty Dolla Sign.
The controversial rapper, 46 — who was recently blasted by Ozzy Osbourne over the unauthorized use of a War Pigs sample — previously mentioned the Love Story songstress in his 2016 track titled Famous.
He had rapped: ‘For all my South Side n****s that know me best/ I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex/ Why? I made that b***h famous.’
In his latest song Carnival, Swift’s name stands out among a list of controversial figures — including accused rapist Bill Cosby and tech billionaire Elon Musk — who’ve made it into the lyrics.
‘Now I’m Ye Kelly, b***h / Now I’m Bill Cosby, b***h / Now I’m Puff Daddy rich / That’s Me Too rich,’ raps Kanye, as per Forbes.
‘I mean since Taylor Swift, since I had a Rollie on the wrist / I’m the new Jesus, b***h / I turned water into Kris / This for what they did to Chris / They can’t do s**t with this.’
Eight years earlier, Taylor Swift had taken offense to the lyrics in his track Famous, and the accompanying music video also depicted a naked Taylor lying in his bed next to him – along with a whole host of other celebrities – with nude Kim on the other side.
Kanye defended the line, claiming he had a conversation with Taylor about the lyrics in question ahead of time, which she denied.
However, Swift continued to accuse Kanye of lying about asking her permission to reference her in his lyrics which prompted now ex-wife Kim to release a partial recording of the call in question.
‘I’m really glad you had the respect to call me that and tell me that as a friend, about the song. It’s just a really cool thing to do, and a really good show of friendship,’ Taylor is heard saying.
Taylor hit back by claiming that although Kanye spoke through some aspects of the lyrics, she did not consent to being referred to as a ‘b***h.’
The Bad Blood hitmaker recently opened up about the effect the lyrics had on her as well as the bitter feud between the rapper and SKIMS founder.
While talking to TIME after being named the magazine’s Person of the Year in December 2023, she dished out the dispute which started when West wrote the vulgar lyrics about the rising star.
Taylor said that the public fallout said it felt like ‘a career death,’ adding: ‘Make no mistake – my career was taken away from me.’
Discussing the aftermath and the brutal toll that it took on her well-being, Swift added, ‘You have a fully manufactured frame job, in an illegally recorded phone call, which Kim Kardashian edited and then put out to say to everyone that I was a liar.’
‘That took me down psychologically to a place I’ve never been before. I moved to a foreign country. I didn’t leave a rental house for a year. I was afraid to get on phone calls.’
She later took another swing at Kardashian, West, and anyone else who she believes has tried to stifle her success, remarking: ‘Trash takes itself out every single time.’
‘But I’ve also learned there’s no point in actively trying to quote unquote defeat your enemies,’ she said. ‘Trash takes itself out every single time.’
Taylor’s feud with Kim and Kanye had been bubbling to the surface as early as 2009, seemingly out of the blue, when 19-year-old Taylor was at the MTV Video Music Awards, accepting the Best Female Video award for You Belong with Me.
Suddenly, in the middle of her acceptance speech, Kanye jumped on the stage, grabbed the microphone out of her hands, and bellowed: ‘Yo, Taylor, I’m really happy for you and Imma let you finish, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time. One of the best videos of all time!’
In a bid to diffuse the tension, Beyonce later called Taylor up on stage when she won Video of the Year for Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It), and allowed the country music star a moment in the spotlight.
But the tension only continued when the father-of-four humiliated the star once again at the VMAs in 2015.
It appeared the pair were getting on as Kanye joked: ‘You know how many times they announced Taylor was going to give me the award ’cause it got them more ratings?’
However, Taylor later announced that his statement truly irked her, as he made out in public that it was for ratings, but in private, asked her to be on stage with him as it would ‘mean so much.’
West held the Vultures listening party at the UBS Arena in NYC on Friday – the same day that the record was set to drop.
He took to his main Instagram page and stories to share the all-black ensemble he planned to wear on stage, including a mask as well as a jacket that had the number one printed on the back.
