Ye Shares List of ’12 Rap Kings’ Featuring Himself and Drake But No Kendrick Lamar

The artist formerly known as Kanye West, who said in a video shared to X on Friday that he is now back in Japan amid a slew of acrimonious social media updates, is continuing his criticism of former Yeezus-era tour partner Kendrick Lamar after the “Not Like Us” Grammy winner’s trio of appearances on Playboi Carti’s MUSIC. As you’ll recall, Ye is not a featured artist on the album, which is now eyeing a massive No. 1 debut on the Billboard 200 chart.

“Kendrick was never king,” Ye, whose 2025 has included X-shared declarations of “I love Hitler” and “I’m a Nazi,” wrote on Friday, adding that Kendrick was “maybe king of the West Coast but never king of the world.”

Ye then offered his picks for what he deemed the “12 rap kings,” resulting in a list that, expectedly, featured himself and Drake but no Kendrick. Lil Wayne, Jay-Z, Biggie, 2Pac, 50 Cent, Eminem, LL Cool J, Run-D.M.C., Nas, and Rakim also got mentions, with Ye asking “Am I missing any?”

Ye went on to tie this all into his aforementioned MUSIC grievances, saying that Carti, whose 2020 album Whole Lotta Red counted him as an executive producer, “made my favorite music until I heard Kendrick on it.” He also deemed Soulja Boy “more important” than Kendrick, as well as mentioned Lucian Grainge, CEO of UMG, multiple times.

Ye and Kendrick have worked together in the past, most notably on the Life of Pablo track “No More Parties in LA.” Last year, Ye, at least temporarily, appeared to side with Kendrick in his feud against Drake, asserting in the intro to his “Like That” remix “Yo, Dot, I got you.”

At one point, Ye claimed that he and Kendrick had 40 songs in the vault. The current status of those sessions, the existence of which first became public during the Pablo era back in 2016, is unknown. Given Ye’s apparent disinterest in Kendrick’s work as an artist, it seems quite unlikely they’ll ever (officially) see the light of day.