Top Kanye West Disses
Kanye West doesn't mince words. The controversial rapper has no problem saying what's on his mind, and it's a habit that often gets him into trouble, be it booing at the VMAs or a criminal charge for showing a paparazzo exactly how he feels.
We've rounded up our favorite Yeezus Christ disses. It was tough to narrow down, because, well, West is often most entertaining when he's in the most trouble ... and he gets in trouble a lot.
- 11
Beyonce
Kanye West usually speaks highly of Beyonce. In the 'Power' remix, he even calls her his "lil sister." But that doesn't mean Yeezy is scared to call out the Queen Bey.
In a rant at Hammerstein ballroom in which he also dissed Bey's hubby, Jay-Z (more on that later), Ye ranted, "Taylor Swift beat Beyoncé at the Grammys? Beyonce be dancing in heels and s---."
But that was where the compliments ended. West then alluded to Beyonce's Pepsi sponsorship, saying mockingly, "Can I sell your drink for you please? So you can help me put on a better show."
They're fine now, but c'mon, Ye. Don't be bitter that you've never played halftime.
- 10
Pink
Kanye West was mad that Pink was asked to perform at the MTV Video Music Awards twice when he wasn't asked to hit the stage at all following his infamous Taylor Swift interruption.
This all came to light in a leaked audio recording, in which West raved, "What the f— was Pink performing? Don't nobody know that song. Pink performed twice! Two songs? How the f— Pink performs two songs and I didn't even get asked to perform 'Heartless.' 'Heartless' is the biggest song of the year! It had the most spins of the first quarter! I don't know that Pink song! But I noticed that she's Pink!"
Uh, okay. Pink took it in stride though, tweeting, "Oh come on y'all... If people secretly recorded me and all the s--- I talk.... It's all good. All love. And we all still here. Peace please."
- 9
Kris Humphries
In his track 'Theraflu,' Kanye West rubbed his winning over of Kim Kardashian in her ex husband Kris Humphries' face.
Humphries, who played for the Brooklyn Nets -- then owned by Jay-Z -- at the time of the diss track's drop, was the target of a vicious rhyme. "And I'll admit, I fell in love with Kim / 'Round the same time she had fell in love wit' him / Well, that's cool, baby girl, do ya thing / Lucky I ain't have Jay drop him from the team."
Of course, Hov, as powerful as he is, doesn't have that kind of power. And as it turns out, he didn't need it anyway. Kardashian and Humphries' divorce proceedings wound up lasting longer than their 72-day marriage, and now K-Dash is mom to Yeezy's baby, North. Just win gracefully, Ye!
- 8
Paparazzi
For as high profile a rapper as Kanye West is, he keeps his private life private. As a result, Yeezy doesn't take kindly to paparazzi invading his space. In 2013 alone, paps have blinded West to the point of hitting his head on a street pole, preaching a sermon and even facing criminal charges and a lawsuit. Becoming a dad to North has only exacerbated his exasperation with the invasive photogs, and he's not taking kindly to the attention, even though his baby mama has made a career out of courting it.
- 7
Commercialism
Perhaps forgetting the woman he loves has her name on everything from at-home laser hair removal to a debit card scam, Ye flipped out over corporate sponsorships and commercialism in art, music and life in general, especially for African Americans. West ranted rather eloquently about the predicament in 'New Slaves,' which includes lyrics like And it's rich n---- racism / That's that 'Come in, please buy more' / 'What you want, a Bentley? Fur coat? A diamond chain? All you blacks want all the same things."
- 6
Jay-Z + Justin Timberlake
Jay-Z is one of Kanye West's best friends, but that doesn't make him immune to his tongue lashings. During a rant at Hammerstein Ballroom -- the same one in which he dissed Queen Bey -- Ye ripped on Hov and Justin Timberlake, spitting, "And I got love for Hov / But I'm not f—ing with that 'Suit and Tie.'"
Both Jigga and Timberlake were unfazed, with the latter crooner brushing off the diss on 'SNL' with the line, "My hit's so sick got rappers acting dramatic."
- 5
The Grammys
In the same Beyoncé-Jay-JT rant, Kanye West also dissed the Grammys, raving, "Remind me again why we’re in this s— / Remind me again why the Grammys could suck my d— ."
West later bemoaned, "'[My Beautiful] Dark [Twisted] Fantasy' and 'Watch the Throne': neither was nominated for Album of the Year, and I made both of those in one year. I don't know if this is statistically right, but I’m assuming I have the most Grammys of anyone my age, but I haven't won one against a white person."
He was careful to add, however, "I don't care about the Grammys; I just would like for the statistics to be more accurate."
- 4
Jimmy Kimmel
It all started innocently enough when late night TV host Jimmy Kimmel spoofed Kanye's serious BBC chat, re-enacting it with cute kids. West, who tweets once in a blue moon, went H.A.M on social media, attacking Kimmel in ALL CAPS.
Some of his asinine tweets were: "JIMMY KIMMEL PUT YOURSELF IN MY SHOES … OH NO THAT MEANS YOU WOULD HAVE GOTTEN TOO MUCH GOOD P—Y IN YOUR LIFE…", and "YOU CAN'T PUT YOURSELF IN MY SHOES. YOUR FACE LOOKS CRAZY… IS THAT FUNNY?… OR IF I HAD A KID SAY IT WOULD IT BE FUNNY???"
He later deleted his tweets.
- 3
Taylor Swift
In the moment that launched a thousand memes, West made both himself and Taylor Swift household names when he interrupted her Best Female Video Award acceptance speech at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards.
"I'm happy for you," West began, "and I'mma let you finish, but Beyoncé here had one of the best videos of all time! One of the best videos of all time!"
Beyonce was almost as mortified as Swift, though she didn't milk it the way the country crossover had. Swift wrote a song about the incident ('Innocent') and referenced it on a jar of jam for Ed Sheeran.
West apologized and took a cue from 'Golddigger' partner Jamie Foxx and blaming it on the alcohol ... but he later took that apology right back.
- 2
George W. Bush
During the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Kanye West pulled no punches, pointing out what he felt was a racially motivated delay in helping victims in the Gulf -- and blamed it on then-president George W. Bush.
"You know, it's been five days, because most of the people are black ... with the way America is set up to help the poor, the black people, the less well off, as slow as possible ... and they've given them permission to go down and shoot us," he rambled. He closed with what Bush described as the "low point" of his entire presidency (perhaps forgetting the senseless wars, deception of his own people and economic crash): "George Bush doesn't care about black people."
- 1
White People
In a move that pretty much trolled white people across the planet, Jay-Z and Kanye West named one of their biggest hits 'N----s in Paris,' in part so white people could get nervous saying the song title.
One such caucasian? White-bred, white bread-elusive Gwyneth Paltrow, who attended a 'Watch the Throne' concert in Paris where the duo broke their own record by performing 'N—-s in Paris' 11 times in a row.
The Oscar winner tweeted a photo of herself with the rap royalty, writing, 'Ni**as in paris for real,' then faced a whole lot of Internet backlash. Mission: Accomplished.