Kanye West says he “invented every style of music of the past 20 years”, Boosie Badazz and Kid Cudi respond

18 March, 2024

(From left to right) Kid Cudi, Boosie Badazz and Kanye West. Photo credit: Monica Schipper/WireImage; Paras Griffin/Getty Images; Bellocqimages/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images

Kid Cudi and Boosie Badazz have responded to Kanye West saying he “invented every style of music of the past 20 years.”

Last week, an interview with Ye and Ty Dolla $ign was released where they sat down with tenured rap authority Big Boy to talk about their ‘Vultures’ album trilogy. The chat came ahead of the trilogy’s second instalment, which has been now delayed and is expected to be released on May 3.

“I done invented every style of music of the past 20 years,” he said. “I created this genre. I created [The] Weeknd’s genre, Trav[is Scott], Drake… I’m gonna go ‘head and say it, with all love, Future and [Young] Thug also, because of the autotune album, ‘808s [& Heartbreaks]’, if you think about it. Now everyone, they added whatever it was to it.”

The rapper-producer also alluded that the newest sound he has created is called the “making your own money genre” which is all about “tak[ing] that middle man out.” You can watch the full interview with Big Boy below.

Badazz commented on Ye’s comments, writing beneath a social media post of the clip: “Not all genres, not every style, not Boosie music! You can’t relate to nothing I rap about r [sic] your music! Nobody listens to Kanye n the projects r the trenches! I’m a gon head and say it, ‘My people do not relate to you.'”

Yesterday (March 18), Ye responded to the Louisiana rapper’s statement with a message of his own on his Instagram stories. “I just saw that [Badazz’s seminal highest-selling single] ‘Wipe Me Down’ was made in 2007,” wrote West. “I take no responsibility for whatever that genre would be called.”

‘808s & Heartbreaks’ came out in 2008 and is known as one of the most influential rap albums of all time due to its use of melancholy and auto-tune. Drake told MTV News in 2009 that Kanye West was “the most influential person” on his sound. He also sampled ‘Say You Will’ on his breakthrough mixtape ‘So Far Gone’.

However, Ye taking sole credit for the popularity of auto-tune in rap music is controversial: many fans cite T-Pain as the artist to popularised the feature in the ’00s. He even helped the Chicago rapper find his footing in computerised pop with the 2007 single ‘Good Life’ from West’s 2007 classic ‘Graduation’.

One X/Twitter user said: “Ye was definitely influential but y’all gone stop disrespecting T-Pain. At one point before 808s was out if you used autotune you were “singing like T-Pain”. He needs more props for his influence!”

Rap journalist Rob Markman echoed the same sentiment: “I think, when Pain came into the game in 2005 with [his 2005 debut album] ‘Rappa Ternt Sanga’, he absolutely changed the music – not just hip-hop, not just R&B, but pop as well.”

Kid Cudi has four writing credits on West’s fourth studio album: ‘Welcome to Heartbreak’, ‘Heartless’, ‘Paranoid’ featuring Mr Hudson and ‘RoboCop’. The Cleveland alternative rap pioneer has suspectedly responded to Ye’s claims as well by reposting a screenshot of the Wikipedia page for ‘808s & Heartbreak’.

In the clipping, it read: “Kid Cudi’s sound is what inspired and led Kanye West to create his cathartic ‘808s & Heartbreak’, with West later stating that he and Cudi were “the originators of the style, kinda like what Alexander McQueen is to fashion.”

Fans still await Dolla $ign and Ye’s ‘Vultures 2’ album, which will serve as a follow-up to ‘Vultures 1’ that they released on February 10 this year.

In anticipation, the duo have been performing their songs at ‘Vultures Listening Experience’ concerts alongside some of the featured artists from the album, including three in Europe earlier this month. They also played in Arizona where West’s daughter, North West, announced she will soon be releasing her first-ever album, ‘Elementary School Dropout’. She made her rap debut on ‘TALKING‘ – the lead single for ‘Vultures 1’ – last month.

In other news, fans have complained that Ye “barely performed” during his set at Rolling Loud California over the weekend.

The post Kanye West says he “invented every style of music of the past 20 years”, Boosie Badazz and Kid Cudi respond appeared first on NME.