Here's What's Going On With Kim Kardashian, Kanye West, And Those Alleged Text Messages About North West's Feature On A New Song With Diddy

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17-03-2025

Over the weekend, Kanye West seemingly took aim at his ex-wife, Kim Kardashian, on X. And so, to save you from engaging directly with any of the rapper's online vitriol, here's a breakdown of the situation in one place.
Kim and Kanye share four children: sons, Saint and Psalm West, and daughters, North and Chicago West. After a decade together, Kim and Kanye split in early 2021, and throughout their nearly two-year divorce battle, the children were the center of many of Kanye's social media tirades criticizing his ex and her family. From debates over the kids' schooling and social media presence to straight-up accusing Kim of kidnapping, much of the co-parenting contention seemed to stem from Kanye's desire for control and authority over the kids' lives, despite Kim reportedly being the ' primary caregiver.'
And on Saturday, Kanye seemed to emphasize this need for authority in a series of X posts in which he alleged that the ' Kardashian mob ' and Disney (which, for context, produces the family's Hulu reality show) had restricted his 'rights' to 'raise' his children and 'have say so' of what they do, from their schooling to their friends. Alleging that his time with his children is in some way being restricted, Kanye claimed in another post that seeing his kids is like 'visitation,' comparing it to being 'in prison.' These posts have since been deleted.
When Kim and Kanye finalized their divorce in November 2022, the exes were granted joint physical and legal custody of their kids, agreeing to settle any co-parenting disputes privately by participating in mediation. Kim has indicated numerous times over the years that she takes on the majority of parenting responsibilities ' alone,' and a source told People in October 2024 that the Skims founder is 'pretty much a single mom' since Kanye is 'sadly not around very much.'
Notably, Kim has not publicly commented on any of the hateful, antisemitic, and deeply harmful comments that Kanye has shared online since the start of the year. However, it seems she was recently forced to step in to prevent her ex from releasing a song featuring their 11-year-old daughter, North, rapping alongside the disgraced music mogul Sean ' Diddy ' Combs, who is currently in a New York prison awaiting trial for a slew of charges including sex trafficking and racketeering.
Jeff Kravitz / FilmMagic
For context, North has shown a keen interest in music for a while now and has expressed a desire to become a rapper. In 2024, she became one of the youngest-ever artists to chart on the Billboard Hot 100 chart thanks to her and her dad's song 'Talking.' She has been featured on several other tracks with Kanye and recently rapped on FKA Twigs' popular song, " Childlike Things."
On Saturday, Kanye posted the song, titled 'Lonely Roads Still Go to Sunshine,' on X. 'new song by PUFF DADDY feat. His son KING COMBS my daughter NORTH WEST and new Yeezy artist from Chicago Jasmine Williams,' he captioned the X post, which is also no longer live on his page. Snippets suggest that the song begins with a phone conversation between Diddy and Kanye, in which Diddy is seemingly thanking him for 'taking care' of his seven kids, saying: 'Ain't nobody reach out to them, ain't nobody call them.' Later in the track, North can also be heard rapping: 'When you see me shining, then you see the light.'
Before Kanye shared the track online, he posted screenshots of an alleged text conversation between himself and Kim, in which it appears the reality star was explaining that her trademark ownership of 'North West' prevents him from using their daughter's vocals on the song with Diddy.
'I asked u at the time if I can trademark her name,' the first message from the contact saved as 'Kim K' reads, per the screenshot in the since-removed X post. 'You said yes. When she's 18, it goes to her. So stop. I sent paper work over so she wouldn't be in the Diddy song To protect her. One person has to trademark!' Suggesting that Kim is the sole owner of the West kids' trademarks, the next message reads: 'We agreed when they were born i would get all of our kids names and trademarks. So one else would take them.'
@kanyewest / X / Via x.com
After vowing in the first message he'd 'never' be speaking to her again, Kanye's apparent response reads: 'Amend it or I'm going to war. And neither of us will recover from the public fallout. You're going to have to kill me.'
As previously mentioned, none of these posts — including the one featuring the song — can be found on Kanye's X account at the time of writing. Kim has not publicly addressed the situation; however, she has previously condemned Kanye's decision to air their private co-parenting disputes on social media. 'Divorce is difficult enough on our children and Kanye's obsession with trying to control and manipulate our situation so negatively and publicly is only causing further pain for all,' she wrote on Instagram in February 2022.
Jon Kopaloff / WireImage