Ye Takes A Break From Bashing Former Friends To Praise Will Smith

Ye (formerly known as Kanye West), took a break from his usual online tirades on Tuesday (April 1) to shower praise on none other than Will Smith.

In a rare moment of appreciation, the Yeezy creator reposted a clip of Smith effortlessly rapping over Griselda’s 2019 track “Dr. Birds” for Lyrical Lemonade, and declared his admiration.

“Will Smith is one of my biggest inspirations,” Ye wrote in a X post. “This ni**a really became the biggest movie star in the world. Married the baddest actress. Raised brilliant children. And still got that drive.”*

Ye’s public praise comes as a surprise, considering his recent streak of bashing his former friends, collaborators and even his ex-wife, Kim Kardashian. Besides his online antics, Ye took aim at Frank Ocean, J. Cole, John Legend, JAY-Z and Beyoncé, Kendrick Lamar, Playboi Carti and so many others in an hour-long interview with Akademiks.

In his rant, he directly addressed Hov, calling out his lack of support. “JAY-Z, Beyoncé, you ain’t help me when I was having problems with my kids… You ain’t show up to my first wedding. You ain’t my family,” he said.

His grievances extended to Lamar as well, accusing the Pulitzer Prize-winning rapper of lifting elements from The Life of Pablo for Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers. “It’s like, ‘Oh, these are the drums from this song. This is the approach to this song’,” he claimed.

Meanwhile, Smith himself admitted to looking to Lamar and JAY-Z for guidance while crafting his comeback album, Based on a True Story.

According to the multifaceted star, the two Hip-Hop giants encouraged him to embrace raw honesty in his music. “Say that sh*t you’ve always been fu**king scared to say,” Smith recalled of K. Dot, as JAY advised, “Don’t fake your story. You gotta say what’s true for you. You’ll be looking at the younger rappers and you want that to be true for you, but you don’t live like that. Be true to your story.”

The Oscar-winning actor dropped his album on Friday (March 28). The album boasts features from Big Sean, Russ, Teyana Taylor, and even his youngest son, Jaden.

Revisit Will Smith’s “Lunch Break Freestyle” below.