Freddie Gibbs recently shared that his collaboration with Kanye West wasn’t exactly smooth sailing.
Speaking on the Butcher Block podcast, Gibbs recalled that Ye wasn’t too happy with his contribution to “Back to Me,” a standout from Vultures 1, West’s 2024 joint album with Ty Dolla $ign.
“This n***a Kanye was mad about that shit,” Gibbs said about two minutes into the interview. “That n***a was telling n***as like, ‘Man, how the fuck this n***a think his verse is the best on my album?’”
The verse Freddie Gibbs laid down for Vultures 1 ended up earning widespread acclaim, with Complex even naming it one of the year’s best. Gibbs said he excitedly shared that recognition with Kanye West, hoping the praise would make him proud.
“When I sent it to him, I sent it to him thinking that, with the premise, he’d be proud of me. ’Cause I look up to you,” Gibbs explained. “So I would think that, I rapped on your album, and people talking about it like this, you would think that a n***a like you would be proud of me. […] That pissed him off.”
Gibbs has been vocal about his admiration for Ye in the past—he once flipped the “No More Parties in LA” beat for his own “Cocaine Parties in LA” and has rapped over Kanye’s production on earlier mixtapes. Still, the Vultures experience left him disappointed.
On the bright side, Gibbs said the project brought him closer to Ty Dolla $ign. He ended the podcast segment by revealing that he and Ty already have more music in the pipeline.
