Jay-Z swaps out Kanye West’s name in song lyric during surprise Beyoncé concert appearance

Rapper joined Beyoncé on her latest tour stop to perform a special rendition of his and West’s 2011 hit ‘Ni**as in Paris’

Jay-Z deliberately omitted Kanye West’s name while performing their collaborative song, “Ni**as in Paris,” during a surprise appearance on Beyoncé’s latest Cowboy Carter tour stop.

The rapper joined his pop superstar wife onstage at her Sunday concert in Paris. Together, they duetted a medley of their biggest hits, including “Crazy In Love” and a remix of “Drunk in Love” and Beyoncé’s song “Partition.”

Jay-Z later took the stage to perform a solo rendition of his and West’s 2011 song, “Ni**as in Paris,” off their Watch the Throne album.

In fan-filmed footage of his appearance, the “Empire State Of Mind” artist swapped out the lyrical reference to West. Instead of singing “Just might let you meet Ye” in the first verse, Jay-Z changed the line to “Just might let you meet Bey.”

The moment comes weeks after West posted on X that “all my dreams have been about apologizing to Jay-Z.”

Jay-Z (left) swapped out Kanye West's (right) name during his performance of their 2011 song at Beyoncé's Paris concert (Getty)

Jay-Z, 55, and West, 48, were once close friends and collaborators. However, they have since experienced a significant fallout, which reportedly began in 2014 after Jay-Z missed West’s wedding to Kim Kardashian.

“I was hurt about them not coming to the wedding,” West told Charlamagne tha God on iHeartRadio’s The Breakfast Club in 2018. “I understand they were going through some things, but if it’s family, you’re not going to miss a wedding.”

While Jay-Z has never publicly commented on his reason for missing West and Kardashian’s destination wedding, it’s reported to be around the time he was experiencing marital issues with Beyoncé.

Then, in 2021, Jay-Z made a brief appearance on West’s song “Jail,” from his album Donda, delighting fans who assumed it meant they had finally reconciled.

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West, however, later revealed that he and Jay-Z were at odds over the latter’s lyrics in “Jail,” which referenced West’s support of President Donald Trump.

“Why did Jay Z have to say ‘no red hat’ on ‘Jail’,” West wrote on X in April in a since-deleted post. “That s*** 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?”

Meanwhile, in March, West took aim at Jay-Z and Beyoncé, attacking their twins, Rumi and Sir, in disparaging X posts.

“Wait has anyone ever seen Jay-Z and Beyonce’s younger kids they’re r*******,” he wrote. “No like literally and this is why artificial insemination is such a blessing having r******* children is a choice.”

He later apologized, writing: “I’m sorry Jay Z. I be feeling bad about my tweet but I still feel I gave my life to this industry and thought so many people were my family but when I needed family on some real s*** none of these rap n**** had my back.”