The two rap stars are having a very public fallout, but how did they get to this point?
Kanye West and Playboi Carti
Bellocqimages/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images; Wagner Meier/Getty Images for Live Nation
While once the closest of collaborators, Playboi Carti and Ye (formerly Kanye West) seem to be having a very serious falling out.
The two rap stars have been tied together since at least 2016, and both have linked for a handful of hits over the years. On March 14, 2025, that streak seemed to be continuing with the release of King Vamp’s third album, MUSIC. Ye had co-produced the song “BACKD00R” featuring Jhene Aiko and Kendrick Lamar, but Ye did not rap on the album.
This may be because — as Ye also speculated — Yeezy has continuously spewed hateful and antisemitic claims. Ye has continuously engaged in hate speech since at least 2022, when he called for “death con 3 on jewish people” and unapologetically rocked White Lives Matter T-shirt at a fashion show. The antisemeitc rhetoric caused him to loose multiple deals collectively worth around $2 billion, and it’s slowly impacted his reputation as an artistic genius.
While Carti never spoke publicly on these actions, Ye theorized after the release of MUSIC that the Whole Lotta Red rapper had been distancing himself from him. After some more spewing on X that even brought Iggy Azalea — the mother of Carti’s son — into the mix, Carti eventually replied.
The back-and-forths have continued since, showing that the once fruitful relationship between Ye and Carti is no more. So how did the two men get to this point? Here’s a timeline of Ye and Carti’s relationship over the years.
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2017: Ye & Playboi Carti Meet
After Carti relocated to New York City and joined A$AP Mob in 2016, Ye became aware of him and tuned in heavily following the release of Carti’s self-titled 2017 debut. Shortly after the release, Ye cast him as a model in his popular Yeezy clothing brand. Carti additionally referred to Ye as a fashion inspiration in a 2017 interview with Vogue.
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2020: Ye Executive Produces ‘Whole Lotta Red’
In 2020, Carti dropped off his ravenously anticipated sophomore album, Whole Lotta Red. Ye served as the project’s executive producer and appeared on the track “Go2DaMoon.” In a sit-down with Kid Cudi, (who also appeared on the song “M3tamorphosis”), Carti credited Ye with bringing his vision to life with the rage-rap classic.
“Kanye is the OG. He opened my eyes to some s—t,” Carti told Interview magazine in 2021. “When I got around him, I realized why I love him so much. You get what I’m saying? When I get around you, I realize why I love you so much. I even appreciate Ye for introducing me and you. Being able to talk to somebody who understands what I’m saying, I got that from his whole camp. I felt that energy from everybody he deals with. I didn’t feel like a loner. The world I’m trying to build, he already got it going on. Ye is on this king vamp s—t.”
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2021-2022: Playboi Carti Joins Forces With Ye for ‘Donda’
By 2021, Carti and Ye were back in the studio again. Hot off his Whole Lotta Red release and King Vamp Tour, Carti hopped on the Donda smash “Off the Grid” with Fivio Foreign. The song hit No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 and eventually went platinum.
The next year, Carti tried to even get him and Ye to tour together. The tour never materialized despite rabid fandom over the pairing. The duo did eventually pop out together for the Donda 2 listening experience to perform “Off the Grid” later in 2022.
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2024: Playboi Carti & Ye Reunite for ‘Vultures 1’
At the start of 2024, Ye and Carti reunited for multiple songs off the former’s Ty Dolla $ign-assisted Vultures 1 album. Ye and King Vamp joined forces on “Fuk Sumn” and “Carnival” with Rich the Kid. The latter song became Ye’s first No. 1 on the Hot 100 since the start of his racist and antisemitic tirades two years prior. The song marked Ye’s fifth No. 1 on the Hot 100 and Carti’s first, and was eventually certified double platinum.
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March 2025: The Fallout Begins
Following the release of MUSIC, Ye’s ex-wife Kim Kardashian shared an Instagram Story March 17 with a lyric from the song “FINE SH*T” due to King Vamp shouting out Kim’s clothing brand Skims. Carti shouted out Kim on Instagram for the mention, and said he really wanted to get North West — Kim and Ye’s eldest daughter — on a track, referring to her as his “niece.”
Ye blew up almost immediately over this notion, exclaiming on X that North would never be allowed to link with Carti if he wasn’t able to.
“HOW IT LOOK FOR ME TO GET LEFT OFF THE ALBUM AND THEN HE ASK KIM TO HAVE VOCALS FROM MY DAUGHTER,” West wrote in his first post on the topic. “HIM GOING TO MY EX TO ASK MY DAUGHTER TO BE ON A SONG 2 DAYS LATER WAS TOO FAR. NOBODY FINNA PLAY WITH ME.”
Ye also claimed he put Carti on, and said he “wouldn’t let [North] get trafficked.” Ye even called out Carti’s baby mother Iggy Azalea, who responded promptly to the mention and asked she not be included in the drama.
“HEY IGGG AZALEA I NEED TO GET ONYX VOCALS ON MY SONG THATS MY NEPHEW OH AND IMA RAP ABOUT ONE OF YOUR BUSINESSES THE F—K?” Ye wrote.
“YE STFU,” Carti ultimately wrote on X in response.
Carti’s response set Ye off even more. In another since-deleted rant, he wrote on X that Carti’s response was “the final heartbreak” for him. He wrote, “ALL THIS S—T IS ABOUT CLOUT FOR ALL YALL.”
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April 2025: Ye Claims Carti Allegedly Pulled Up With a Gun to See Him
In a brief Twitch livestream, Ye claimed Carti tried to get offline and handle things in person, though he did not indicate when this allegedly happened. The embattled rapper alleged that Carti pulled up to his hotel with a firearm, an accusation that Carti never responded to.
“This n—a told me he was at the Chateau with a gun, n—a,” Ye said. “What that mean, n—a? And the n—a say he don’t be on the internet. It’s like, if you don’t be on the internet, what are we talking about, then? I ain’t say nothing, then.”
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May 2025: Playboi Carti Accuses Ye of Stealing His Beat
Carti accused Ye of using a sample from his song “Crank” without permission for his “Alive” collaboration with YoungBoy Never Broke Again, which dropped May 21.
“DIS MY SONG LIL BRA @ye,” Carti wrote in the since-deleted post. Streamer Sneako — who had been spending time with Ye in Spain — pushed back on this assertion, claiming the song was originally Yeezy’s.
“Ye made the beat, clearly,” claimed Sneako. “If you listen to Carti’s version, it’s not good.”
