Comedian Adam Friedland welcomed legendary New York rapper Jadakiss onto his interview podcast dubbed The Adam Friedland Show last Wednesday (July 12). Filled with hints of irony and satire, the conversation saw the two men discuss a multitude of topics regarding Jadakiss’ life. At one point, around the 33-minute mark, Friedland asked the emcee about his relationship with Kanye West. The 48-year-old issued a rather interesting response.
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“I’ve met like five or six different Kanyes,” Jadakiss said, likely alluding to the different moods and changes in personality West has undergone in his career. “The first four were awesome, the last two were a little bit…”
Here, Jadakiss is likely referring to West’s recent headline-making antics, which included antisemitic rants and his disapproval of the Black Lives Matter Movement. When Friedland then asked why Jadakiss hasn’t intervened or talked some sense into West, the rapper insisted that was not his place.
“Music is sort of like a ‘mind your business’ thing,” he replied.
In 2021, West and Jadakiss worked together on a song for the first time on “Jesus Lord pt. 2,” a bonus track for the former’s tenth studio album Donda. For the song, which included other members of Jadakiss’ iconic 1990s rap group The Lox, Jadakiss told HipHopDX in 2021 that the song came together after The Lox’s performance against fellow New York crew The Diplomats in their long-awaited Verzuz battle.
“Someone from Ye’s camp actually reached out to my older son,” he said. “Then Ye called us the next day after Verzuz, he hit me the next morning. We flew straight there and went straight to the studio and knocked the song out… It was ill. It was a different experience for us, but it was super dope.”
Then, the next October, Jadakiss was one of the first of West’s peers to speak out against him following the aforementioned, weeks-long antisemitic tirade.
“Everybody need to pray for Kanye and let the Lord work it out,” he told TMZ. “He’ll be alright. I’m always for the artists. Some say and do dumb stuff, but I’m always for the artist.”
While he did express to TMZ at the time that he felt West would be able to bounce back from this blemish on his character, Jadakiss’ statement to Friedland makes it seem like he’s lost a bit of hope in that since then. Check out the full interview below.
(Photo by Taylor Hill/FilmMagic,)
