SEEING RED

Jay-Z Reveals Tense MAGA Hat Clash With Kanye West

The rappers argued for weeks over a politically charged lyric.

Jay-Z has revealed a disagreement he and Kanye West had while collaborating on a song.

The two rappers teamed for the track “Jail” on West’s 2021 album, Donda. Jay-Z’s feature included a line that the two rappers argued over for weeks, he revealed on the sixth episode of JAŸ-Z in 8 docuseries.

Jay Z, 56, said his line, “Told him, ‘Stop all of that red cap / we goin’ home,’” references “Make America Great Again” hats. He said that West, 49, was not a fan of the line.

West has publicly supported President Donald Trump, visiting the White House in 2018 and wearing a MAGA hat.

“I think we argued about this verse maybe two weeks after,” Jay-Z said. “I was like, ‘This is why I didn’t wanna do this verse.’ It wasn’t easy.”

The 99 Problems hitmaker continued, “He was like, ‘The red line is not making me comfortable.’ And I was like, ‘Sorry, I’m not gonna change it. That’s how I feel.’”

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While Jay-Z was not willing to change the lyric, he told West there were no hard feelings if he removed his verse.

“I said, ‘I understand how you feel; you should probably take the verse off. If you feel strongly enough about it, I’m not gonna change it, but respectfully, you should take it off because this is your project. Everything on it should be the way you want it to be,’” Jay-Z said.

Ultimately, the feature with the MAGA diss made it onto the final track. However, West has made clear the lyric still bothers him.

In a since-deleted post from 2025, West wrote: “Why did Jay Z have to say ‘no red hat’ on Jail. That s--t tore me to my soul. We fought about it, and he told me either leave that line on there or take my verse off. Me wearing the red hat was the most stand out example of me going against ‘the program.’ Do you guys think he was instructed to say that?”

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Lauren HartleyBreaking News Intern

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