"I was on Taylor's side": Kanye West hits back at Swifties over Beyonce's streaming campaign, says he has been helpful to the 'Karma' singer's career

The age-old ongoing war between the Swifties and Kanye West that originated at the infamous 2009 MTV VMAs was just hit with an unexpected twist. The Carnival rapper revealed on Valentine's Day 2024 through an Instagram post that he was on Taylor's side. Kanye said in the caption of his post:

"REMEMBER I WAS ON TAYLOR’S SIDE WHEN SCOOTER BOUGHT HER MASTERS BEHIND HER BACK."

This was about Scooter Braun's infamous acquisition of the rights to Swift's first six albums in 2019. Kanye's statements came in response to the Swifties trying to stop Kanye and Ty Dolla $ign's Vultures 1 from having a #1 Billboard Hot 100 debut by streaming and buying Beyonce's Texas Hold 'em. Kanye also claimed that he was "far more helpful" than harmful to Swift's career.

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"I am not your enemy": Kanye West to Taylor Swift fans

On Monday, February 12, when Kanye West overtook Taylor Swift as the most streamed artist on Spotify, Daily Loud made a tweet about it on X. Kanye, who saw the tweet, screenshotted it and posted it as an Instagram story. This did not sit well with Taylor Swift's fanbase, who already hated the rapper for a multitude of well-known reasons etched into pop-culture history.

Some of the Swifties, in an attempt to hit back, rallied troops and attempted to oust Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign's latest album, Vultures 1, from debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

A Valentine's Day post shared by Kanye saw a screenshot of one Swiftie, who goes by @souvlore on X, trying to do exactly that by using Beyonce's Texas Hold 'Em as a retaliatory force.

The Taylor Swift fan encouraged Swifties to buy and stream Texas Hold 'Em to block Kanye from the top spot. The user wrote in the tweet labeled "Swiftie Emergency":

"REMEMBER he just DRAGGED Taylor on his latest Instagram Story 😡⚠️⚠️."

Kanye's post of the screenshot came with a lengthy caption of separate statements, all in capital letters. The BACK TO ME rapper had a lot to say. He claimed that when he said that he was the new Jesus in his song Carnival in a verse ending with "b***h", he wasn't thinking about Taylor but appreciated the free promo anyway. He had mentioned Swift's "whole line" before the Jesus verse.

Kanye West's Instagram post (Image via Instagram/@kanyewest)

He talked about how Lil Wayne mentions Taylor's boyfriend Travis Kelce in the upcoming Vultures 2 and stated that Vultures 1 was "super positive and fun" and was all about "triumphant."

West talked about how 2023 was "incredibly challenging" for himself, his family, his wife, his children, and his friends. He was ousted from companies, kicked out of hotels, and even banned from restaurants.

Added to this was the incredibly messy release of Vultures 1, which saw it get taken out of multiple platforms to limit its first-week numbers. Kanye West said that this reminded him of the mistreatment of his people because of the color of their skin. The rapper then said:

"REMEMBER I WAS ON TAYLOR’S SIDE WHEN SCOOTER BOUGHT HER MASTERS BEHIND HER BACK. SHE AND BEYONCÉ ARE BIG INSPIRATIONS TO ALL MUSICIANS WE ALWAYS SAY HOW BOTH SELL OUT TOURS AND MOVIES."

The first statement was in reference to when Scooter Braun bought out Taylor's entire catalog of albums, from Taylor Swift to Reputation, behind her back in 2019 and later sold it to Shamrock Holdings in 2020. This was what led to the 'Taylor's Version' re-recordings of some of the albums. Kanye West added:

"ALSO, I’M SURE I’VE BEEN FAR MORE HELPFUL TO TAYLOR SWIFT’S CAREER THAN HARMFUL. TO ALL TAYLOR SWIFT FANS I AM NOT YOUR ENEMY UUUM IM NOT YOUR FRIEND EITHER THOUGH LOL."

West also clarified that he was not kicked out of the Super Bowl by Taylor Swift and that he and his wife had left to go see different friends. He also added that he would like to hang out with Shaquille O'Neal and Jaime Saltier. He concluded by stating that the media may control the narrative, but the people have spoken.