M.I.A. Says Ye Was Pivotal to JAY-Z’s Success: ‘He Added the Creativity’

M.I.A. has credited Ye with playing a pivotal role in Jay-Z‘s success as a rapper.

In a 2024 interview with the PBD Podcast that recently resurfaced, the singer asserted that the artist formerly known as Kanye West brought “creativity” to Jay-Z’s artistry. She acknowledged that Hov was more of a “businessman,” but Ye was more “artistic.”

“He added the creativity to that whole thing,” M.I.A. said about Ye’s working relationship with Jay. “I don’t think they give him enough respect and dues. Yes, Jay-Z was more of a businessman. Kanye was always the artistic one. He’s the creative one. I connected with that, and Jay-Z obviously had the clout and the reputation. But, I saw that they both represented two different dynamics.”

She also spoke on the duo’s groundbreaking 2011 joint project, Watch the Throne, and how they were able to co-exist. However, she said, “Only one person was gonna get the throne.”

M.I.A.’s latest comments on Jay-Z come after she went on Instagram Live in November and accused him of trying to change her image. According to M.I.A., Jay told her to get plastic surgery.

“The first thing he said to me was, ‘Get plastic surgery,'” she said at the time. “I’m not insecure because I would have got plastic surgery. So their argument of ‘Maya’s fucking insecure, that’s why she needs to fucking massage her ego,’ fails.”

She added, “It fails because you turn around and ask … What women do you know who hasn’t had plastic surgery around [Jay-Z]? All of them have. I’m the only one who didn’t, which already proves the fact it’s not insecurity.”

In January, M.I.A. sat down for a conversation with Jaguar Wright in which she claimed Jay and his company, Roc Nation, tried to get her to sign a settlement she deemed a “slavery” contract.

“I was fighting giants. At that time, Jay-Z, Roc Nation was supposed to negotiate that. They wanted me to sign this thing, which was slavery,” M.I.A. said. “It was modern-day slavery where the NFL takes 100% of my earnings.”