Kanye West Disses Kendrick Lamar and Taylor Swift: “Where’s the Culture?”

Kanye West is back at it, stirring the pot by taking a dig at Kendrick Lamar and Taylor Swift, and challenging the culture, one cryptic post at a time.

This time, Kanye West’s target seems to be Kendrick Lamar and, of course, Taylor Swift. In true Kanye fashion, he didn’t hold back from shading the unexpected 2015 team-up between the Compton rapper and the pop queen, questioning if that move really had any business being labeled as “culture.”

Ye dropped a subtle but cutting message on social media that had fans immediately reading between the lines. The post seemed to side-eye Kendrick Lamar’s collab with Taylor Swift on the Bad Blood remix, a track that brought the Pulitzer-winning rapper into Swift’s glossy, pop-centric world during her 1989 era. The remix was a big deal at the time, it helped Swift extend her musical footprint into hip-hop-adjacent circles while giving Kendrick some serious exposure to a more mainstream pop audience.

But Kanye? He’s not impressed. He asked, “How is that culture?” And honestly, it’s a very Ye thing to say. This isn’t just shade, it’s a callback to everything Kanye’s always ranted about: the purity of hip-hop, the fight to preserve artistic authenticity, and his long-running beef with Taylor Swift, which dates all the way back to the 2009 VMAs.

While Kanye didn’t name names directly, fans instantly connected the dots. The timing and tone of his post felt like a jab not just at Kendrick’s crossover moment but also at the whole idea of “mainstream collabs” being passed off as groundbreaking cultural moments. His message seems to say, if you’re blending hip-hop with commercial pop for clout or chart success, is that really moving the culture forward?

And look, it’s not the first time Ye has gone for Taylor. Their history is pop culture legend at this point, from the VMAs mic snatch to the back-and-forth over Famous and the leaked phone calls that followed. So, dragging her name into the mix again? Definitely not out of character. But bringing Kendrick into it? That’s new. And fans are split. Some agree with Ye, arguing that the Kendrick-Swift pairing felt forced. Others say Kendrick’s versatility is what makes him great.

Still, Kanye’s comment has reopened the debate about what truly counts as “cultural impact” in today’s music scene. Can hip-hop exist comfortably with pop without losing its roots? And should artists like Kendrick, who built his rep on authenticity and conscious rap, avoid certain collaborations, or are these moves just part of evolving with the industry?

Regardless of where you stand, Ye’s question, “How is that culture?”, has definitely stirred up discussion. It taps into deeper issues in the music world: authenticity vs. popularity, legacy vs. relevance, and where artists draw the line when blending genres. And coming from someone who’s never played by the rules, the critique hits differently.

Kanye knows how to grab attention, and even in silence or subtlety, his words pack a punch. Whether he’s raising a valid point or just trolling for drama, one thing’s clear: the Kendrick and Taylor conversation is far from over.

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