Kanye West has long made headlines for his reported ways of dealing with certain situations. Those particular matters have been related both to his work as a music producer and his more personal exploits. Over the years, some people haven’t held back their thoughts when discussing their personal encounters with West. Songwriter and poet J. Ivy – who worked with West – is now one of the latest to divulge his own experience. Ivy specifically dropped allegations about a particularly “heated” chat he had with the rapper.
J. Ivy – whos real name is Jason Ivy Richardson – worked with fellow Chicago native Kanye West on a couple of projects. Most notably, Ivy was featured on the “Never Let Me Down” track of West’s 2004 album, The College Dropout. Years later, the duo teamed up again when Ivy appeared during an episode of the Ye-centric docuseries, Jeen-Yuhs (which is streamable with a Netflix subscription). Ivy revealed to Chicago Magazine that during the production of that doc, West took issue with a critique that he had about a creative decision:
Me and Kanye had a conversation that turned heated two or three years ago. He was mad about things [in Jeen-yuhs, the documentary about West that Ivy helped make]: the mental health part and a part where the director cut the camera off because he didn’t like what he was seeing. Kanye didn’t like that.
The aforementioned documentary, which was co-directed by Coodie Simmons and Chike Ozah, was a topic of much discussion around the time it was in the works. Among the most significant production notes was that Ye put Netflix on the spot by demanding final say on the edit. Ultimately, Ozah explained that the request was denied due to his and Simmons’ intent to maintain authenticity in the three-part doc. While it wasn’t as big as a matter of creative control J. Ivy’s own tiff with Ye apparently became more serious:
I won’t go into it, but an incident happened, and I told him he needed to apologize for it. And it just went left. He got upset, then was like, ‘Y’all need to recognize I’m the king!’ I was like, ‘Bro, we’re kings, too.’ Like, you’re not gonna tell me I’m less than.
Other hip hop artists within the music industry have seemingly distanced themselves from Kanye West in recent years amid his controversial actions and statements. While speaking on the matter, Pusha T said he didn’t feel “heartbreak” over cutting ties with West, who’s made antisemitic statements. The “Stronger” rapper also seems to be on the outs with Jay-Z, as Ye took shots at his and Beyoncé’s children on social media. Jay later seemed to shade West by switching up a lyric in a song during a live performance.
There have been those who’ve come to the Dark Fantasy producer’s defense, though. One of his latest collaborators, Dave Blunts, claimed that the star turned away from his antisemitic views, and Blunts shared positive comments about working with him. Travis Scott also shouted out Ye for helping him find his way within the entertainment industry. When it comes to J. Ivy and his relationship with Kanye West, though, it seems more than evident that Ivy doesn’t want to have further dealings with him.
