There's a status on Facebook that perfectly sums up the relationship between Jay-Z and Kanye West: it's complicated.
The two rappers have been the best of friends and fierce enemies over the past several years, and their friendship nearly mirrors that of an off-and-on relationships, something all too familiar in the entertainment world.
Last year, things went south between the two after Kanye went on a rant during a concert in which he lashed out at Jay's wife, Beyonce. Kanye eventually checked into the hospital for exhaustion.
How are things now between Jay-Ye?
Jay-Z told The New York Times Style Magazine "T" that he spoke to Kanye "the other day, just to tell him, like, he's my brother." He added, "I love Kanye. I do. It's a complicated relationship with us."
Why are things complicated?
"'Cause, you know—Kanye came into this business on my label. So, I've always been like his big brother. And we're both entertainers," Jay-Z said. "It's always been like a little underlying competition with your big brother. And we both love and respect each other's art, too. So, it's like, we both—everyone wants to be the greatest in the world. You know what I'm saying? And then there's like a lot of other factors that play in it. But it's gonna—we gonna always be good."
Still, it will take time for the two to be on the same page again, the "4:44" rapper says.
"But that happens. In the long relationship, you know, hopefully when we're 89 we look at this six months or whatever time and we laugh at that. You know what I'm saying?," Jay-Z said. "There's gonna be complications in the relationship that we have to get through. And the only way to get through that is we sit down and have a dialogue and say, 'These are the things that I'm uncomfortable with. These are the things that are unacceptable to me. This is what I feel.' I'm sure he feels that I've done things to him as well. You know what I'm saying?"
Kanye, Jay continued, "is a very compassionate person. And a lot of times he gets in trouble trying to help others. So, I can identify with it. It's just that there's certain things that happened that's not really acceptable to me. And we just need to speak about it. But there's genuine love there."