Kanye omits Jay Z's name from lyrics, prompting rumours of rappers' spat

Kanye West appears to have started omitting Jay Z's name from the lyrics to his songs. As noted by one of the rapper's hyper-observant fans, West repeatedly skipped Jay's name during his recent performance at Austin's X Music festival.

Have Jay and Kanye fallen out? Less than a month after Jigga and Beyoncé did not attend West's wedding to Kim Kardashian, rap fans have put forward a theory that West is expressing his indignation by censoring Jay Z's name. Suspicions were first raised by a user called okstatetw on the online forum Kanye to the (via Consequence of Sound), who noticed something peculiar about West's X Music gig. "First time he [skipped Jay Z's name], I [thought], 'Ehh that's odd, maybe he's just letting the crowd finish it whatever,'" okstatetw wrote. "Then [Kanye] skipped his name again ... Definitely obvious and intentional."

Okstatetw found fan videos of two different songs where West had left out Jay Z's name. The lyrics to Cold normally go, "Lucky I ain't had Jay drop him from the team"; on Saturday, West instead rapped: "Lucky I ain't had … drop him from the team."

In the song Blood on the Leaves, the recorded version includes the lyrics: "I don't give a damn if you used to talk to Jay Z / He ain’t with you, he with Beyoncé, you need to stop actin’ lazy". Performing the song in Austin, West again left out Jay's name, and shouted the second line with a slightly revised lyric: "You need to stop actin' crazy!"

Our own sleuthing has uncovered a third Jay Z snub: in West's song Touch the Sky, the first verse usually ends by quoting "Jay's favourite line". Again, West omitted the shout-out to his Watch the Throne partner.

The easiest explanation for West's behaviour could be that he's angry at Jay Z for weekending in the Hamptons while West and Kardashian were getting hitched in Italy. The two rappers are long-time friends and frequent collaborators, and Jay Z was a mentor to West when his career was just starting. It was on Jay Z's The Blueprint that West had his first breakthrough, producing four songs.

Jay Z and Beyoncé have yet to explain why they missed West's wedding. They were allegedly invited, and in the months leading up to the event, tabloids reported that Jay Z had even been offered the role of best man. "[I] just assumed [Jay and Beyoncé] were working," Kardashian's mother, Kris Jenner, told E Online this week. "There was so much commotion and excitement, I never really gave [them] a second thought."

Whether or not West is actually angry at Jay Z, this bizarre self-censorship is definitely a new development. Jay's name was present and accounted for during West's concert sets last year.

At the very least, Beyoncé's reps still seem friendly toward West: following an Instagram message with congratulations on the rapper's marriage, the singer's official website repeatedly wished him a happy birthday. West turned 37 on 8 June.