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Deeper Than Rap: Why Are Kanye West and Wiz Khalifa Beefing?

This afternoon's Kanye/Wiz beef is five years in the making.

Last night Kanye West abruptly announced that he had changed the title of his soon-to-be-released Swish (formerly So Help Me God) to Waves, igniting a peculiar burst of outrage from fans of the influential, incarcerated New York rapper Max B, fount of all things wavy in modern rap. Among them were avowed Biggaveli fans Chase N. Cashe of Surf Club and Wiz Khalifa, the latter of whom launched a string of smarmy tweets about Ye stealing thunder from Max. "Hit this KK and become yourself," Khalifa said at the end of the rant, a weed reference Kanye West took for a dig at Kim Kardashian. Ye clapped back in rare form this afternoon, roasting Wiz's career, style, and family in a string of flagrant diss tweets this afternoon.

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While Wiz claimed to be acting on Max B's honor, the seeds of this dispute were planted a year ago in a disagreement between Kanye and Amber Rose, who dated West in the late '00s (the end of their relationship is covered harshly on West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy) and later married and had a child with Khalifa. During a New York visit last February, Kanye told hip-hop radio show The Breakfast Club that Kim Kardashian demanded he take "30 showers" after breaking up with Rose, and Rose responded at a live event by alleging that Kanye's right hand man Travis Scott writes his lyrics, with Travis by her side. The war of words seemed to have wrapped itself up, as Amber spoke at her Los Angeles "Slut Walk" event about forgiving both men for insulting her honor, West with the interview, and Khalifa for the alleged cheating that busted up the marriage.

What's shocking about the back and forth, aside from Ye's godlike wrath (also, "I own your child"), is that last the two interacted publicly, Kanye paid Wiz a compliment in a song. In the 2012 DJ Khaled single "Cold," Kanye rapped, "Whole industry wanna fuck your old chick / Only nigga I got respect for is Wiz" and was met with confused approval from Khalifa. Wiz hasn't spoken much about Kanye before or since, but from all outward appearances, he might be carrying a torch. There's also the matter of Khalifa having an album to sell. Waves is in stores February 11. Khalifa is out February 5, apparently. Check Kanye's smackdown below.

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