Photo: Instagram
Kanye laid into him in a bizarre interview.
By Amy Lamare — Written on Oct 30, 2019
Another day, another bizarre Twitter rant from Kanye West. In other news, the sky is blue. In all seriousness though, Yeezy is everywhere right now. From his recently dropped album Jesus is King to his Sunday Service, well, it is Ye's world and we all just live in it. The latest, though. is the strange shot he took at Meek Mill. The rapper from Philadelphia is a strong voice in the movement to reform criminal justice — much like West's own wife Kim Kardashian West. (Remember, Kanye recently gifted his wife with $1 million towards her fight for social justice.) So what's going on here? What is this beef even about? Are Kanye West and Meek Mill feuding — and about what?
1. Kanye's interview
Kanye is in full promo mode for his latest album Jesus is King and as such, he sat down for an interview with Big Boy TV. During the interview, he covered everything from his new album to his faith and then he started talking about rappers who only focus on stereotypical ideas in the music. Big Boy then asked him what he thinks about people that think Yeezy has turned his back on black culture. Ye agreed he had turned his back, explaining, "Exactly, one hundred percent, I have turned my back on the idea of victimization mentality."
2. He calls out Meek Mill — we think
Basically, Kanye was trying to say that rappers buy into the stereotype that is foisted upon black people. He said: “But the culture has you focused so much on f**king somebody’s b*tch and pulling up in a foreign and rapping about things that could get you locked up and then saying you about prison reform." The Internet seems to agree Ye was trying to shade Meek Mill, since Mill has used his fame to fight for criminal justice reform. Mill spent time behind bars for violating his probation.
3. Meek fights back, sort of...
Meek Mill didn't directly address Kanye, it's more like he shaded him with the Instagram post below. He captioned it: "I’m on this side of the game......kev on this side too he saying something funny." We're not entirely sure, but it seems like Meek Mill is inferring that Kanye doesn't have much support in the hip hop community.
4. Where it all started
However, there is a history with Yeezy and Meek Mill. It goes back to when Kanye first met with Donald Trump. Meek tried to talk him out of going to the White House to meet the President. Of course, no one tells Yeezy what to do, so he went anyway in what turned out to be an infamous meeting. And then he decided to become Trump's biggest fan and advocate. Ye is actively supporting Trump's 2020 re-election campaign. Is that enough to start a hip hop beef? Apparently so.
5. What is Kanye even trying to do?
After a brief and blessed Internet hiatus, Kanye's everywhere now in his promotional tour for his gospel rap album Jesus is King. The internet is pretty divided on whether the album is any good or not, as usual. After all, everything Kanye does is ... complicated.
6. The irony
The irony in this whole situation is, of course, the fact that Kanye's wife Kim Kardashian-West is all about social justice reform and criminal justice reform — she and Meek Mill are, indeed, working toward the same goal: using their fame to spotlight criminal injustices. Just last year, Kardashian-West lobbied President Donald Trump to win clemency for 63-year-old Alice Johnson. Johnson had been sentenced to life in prison on a non-violent drug charge in 1997. Kardashian's intervention pointed out the unusual length, cruelty and racial bias of a sentence of that length for someone who had no prior offenses and who had been a model prisoner.
Amy Lamare is a Los Angeles based writer and editor covering entertainment, pop culture, beauty, fashion, fitness, technology, and the intersection of technology, business, and philanthropy. You can find her on Instagram and Facebook.