The two rappers collaborated for the first time in years.
The return of the throne! As Kanye West prepares to release his 10th studio album, he is bringing back one of his favorite collaborators -- JAY-Z.
On Thursday evening, West had a special listening event for his new album, Donda, which is named after his late mother, Donda West. The event took place at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia. While JAY-Z was not in attendance at the event, his presence was felt.
Though the rappers have had their ups and downs in the past, they've reunited on Yeezy's new track, “Guess Who’s Going to Jail Tonight?”, which JAY seemingly recorded the day of the event, according to a tweet from Young Guru.
"HOV did the verse today!!!! At 4pm," the record producer wrote.
West didn't perform during the listening event, which streamed on Apple Music, but did raise his arms in the air during JAY's verse.
"This might be the return of the Throne. Hova and Yeezus, like Moses and Jesus," JAY-Z raps on the song of the reunion, referring to their 2011 joint album Watch the Throne.
In 2018, JAY-Z talked to David Letterman about his relationship with West following years of on and off feuding.
"That's my brother, we’re beyond friends,” the 51-year-old rapper said of West, 44. “Really, my little brother is Kanye. And like, [with] your little brother, things happen sometimes," adding that they’ll always be close.
"It’s still your sibling forever, it’s my brother. We don’t come from the same mom and dad but I watched Kanye from without an album,” he explained. “The thing I respect about him is that he’s the same person. He interrupted our studio session and stood on the table and started rapping, and we were like, ‘Could you please get down?’ And he was like, ‘No! I am the savior of Chicago!’ He didn’t have a record."
Shortly after that interview, West spoke with Charlemagne tha God about JAY, saying of his 2014 wedding to Kim Kardashian West, "I was hurt about them not coming to the wedding. I understand they were going through some things, but if it's family, you're not going to miss a wedding. I gotta state my truth."
He went on to add that they've had "positive energy" surrounding their friendship more recently.
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