Kanye West has said he “did not diss Taylor Swift” in his new track, Famous.
In a series of posts on Twitter, he denied reports that she had warned him over “misogynistic” language, writing that she “gave her blessings” to the controversial lyric.
Taylor Swift and Kanye West (Evan Agostini/AP; Richard Drew/AP)
The rap star apparently references Taylor in the song, with the words: “I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex / Why? I made that b***h famous.”
But Taylor’s representatives denied that West had called the star to seek permission before putting the song out.
Her spokesman said: “Kanye did not call for approval, but to ask Taylor to release his single Famous on her Twitter account.
Kanye unveiled his album The Life Of Pablo alongside his latest fashion collection (Bruce Barton/AP)
“She declined and cautioned him about releasing a song with such a strong misogynistic message.
“Taylor was never made aware of the actual lyric, ‘I made that b***h famous.’”
In the wake of debuting his new album, The Life Of Pablo, at a listening party in New York, West wrote:
I did not diss Taylor Swift and I’ve never dissed her…
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) February 12, 2016
3rd thing I called Taylor and had a hour long convo with her about the line and she thought it was funny and gave her blessings
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) February 12, 2016
He added: “B**** is an endearing term in hip hop.
5th thing I’m not even gone take credit for the idea… it’s actually something Taylor came up with …
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) February 12, 2016
She was having dinner with one of our friends who’s name I will keep out of this and she told him
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) February 12, 2016
I can’t be mad at Kanye because he made me famous! #FACTS
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) February 12, 2016
The musician, who is married to reality star Kim Kardashian, said he had run the lyric past his wife.
He shared with his 18.6 million followers:
First thing is I’m an artist and as an artist I will express how I feel with no censorship
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) February 12, 2016
2nd thing I asked my wife for her blessings and she was cool with it
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) February 12, 2016
In 2009, Kanye interrupted Taylor as she accepted her MTV Video Music Award, grabbing her microphone to say: “Yo, Taylor, I’m really happy for you and I’mma let you finish, but Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time.”
The two were not on the best terms for several years, before making up at the Grammy Awards in 2015.
Kanye West interrupting Taylor Swift (Jason DeCrow/AP)
Taylor’s younger brother Austin Swift made his thoughts clear on the lyric as he posted a clip on Instagram of himself throwing out a pair of Yeezy shoes, from one of West’s fashion lines.
He captioned the photo: “Getting a head start on some spring cleaning. Here we go again.”
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