On Friday, Kanye West released a multi-tweet statement addressing criticism of one of the lyrics from his new album, The Life of Pablo.
West tweeted that he was not dissing Swift and that he has never dissed Swift, and went on to say "bitch" isn't derogatory and that the lyric was Swift's idea.
I did not diss Taylor Swift and I’ve never dissed her…
First thing is I’m an artist and as an artist I will express how I feel with no censorship
2nd thing I asked my wife for her blessings and she was cool with it
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
4th Bitch is an endearing term in hip hop like the word Nigga
5th thing I’m not even gone take credit for the idea… it’s actually something Taylor came up with …
She was having dinner with one of our friends who’s name I will keep out of this and she told him
I can’t be mad at Kanye because he made me famous! #FACTS
West said the reaction to the line was an attempt to demonize him as an artist.
6th Stop trying to demonize real artist Stop trying to compromise art
That’s why music is so fucking watered down right now I miss that DMX feeling
7th I miss that feeling so that’s what I want to help restore
8th They want to control us with money and perception and mute the culture
but you can see at Madison Square Garden that you can stop us
9th It felt like a seen from The Warriors ALL GODS ALL GODS ALL GODS in the buildin
not just the famous people there but the kids the moms the dads the families that came to share this moment with us
West's string of tweets goes against a previous statement released by Swift's publicist on Thursday night saying that she actually cautioned him against releasing the track:
Kanye did not call for approval, but to ask Taylor to release his single "Famous" on her Twitter account. 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 bitch famous."