Kanye West faces criticism over ‘Famous’ Taylor Swift lyric

A song from Kanye West’s new album has provoked controversy and a terse response from representatives of Taylor Swift. Kanye West’s new album has caused controversy and a brief response from representatives of Taylor Swift. The Life of Pablo, one of the most anticipated album releases of 2016, features the song ‘Famous’ in which Kanye raps “I made that b**** famous,” apparently referring to fellow pop megastar Swift.

Entertainment website TMZ reported earlier this week that Kanye had made contact with Swift to get the “heads up” about the lyric before the album release.

However, representatives of hers told E! News that Swift was never consulted about the line, and had warned Kanye about releasing songs with a “strong misogynistic” message to them.

Kanye and Swift have the history. At the MTV Music Video Awards in 2009, an apparently drunk West ran onto the stage during Swift’s acceptance for Best Female Video.

He seized the microphone and told all assembled that the award should have gone to Beyonce for her hit ‘Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)’ – not a moment Swift will remember fondly. In the wake of that incident, even President Obama called West a “jackass”.

Relatives and associates of Taylor Swift have shown their displeasure towards West. Swift’s younger brother posted a picture of himself on Instagram throwing his Yeezy (West’s brand) trainers into the trash can, saying he was making a start on “spring cleaning.”

The release of Kanye’s new album has been a bumpy one from the start. Having changed track lists and titles many times, guest songs (including collaborations with Andre 3000 and Kirk Franklin) were added right at the last minute.

The finished article was finally released at Madison Square Garden on Thursday and timed to coincide with Kanye’s new Yeezy Season 3 brand offerings.

No stranger to controversy, Kanye recently posted on Twitter, “BILL COSBY INNOCENT !!!!!!!!!!”. At times like this, it seems the star’s outbursts often overshadow his music.