— blogged by @lovelikejhoney
Previously on Baller Alert, we mentioned, Rhymefest, one of Donda’s House co-founders, reaching out to Toronto rapper, Drake, on Twitter during his rap feud with Pusha T and Kanye West. “I’m asking Drake to help the part of Chicago Kanye has Abandoned! Please contact @DondasHouse,” Rhymefest tweeted. “I spoke to Kanye about it. His response was ‘Fuck the youth of Chicago.’”
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Rhymefest is a longtime friend and collaborator of West. Together, they founded Donda’s House in 2011 in honor of West’s mother, Donda West, an educator who died in 2007 of complications following cosmetic surgery.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Rhymefest publicly addressing the issue did not sit well with West’s wife, Kim Kardashian-West. She sent off a series of tweets defending her husband—however, many are questioning whether it was really Kim with the Twitter fingers.. or if Kanye had been using her account.
“U haven’t been right since u got kicked out of the studio in Hawaii wearing fake Yeezy’s @RHYMEFEST,” Kardashian-West tweeted. “You’re over leveraging Kanye’s name & asked Kanye to donate money to u so stop w your fake community politics & lies. Truth is you haven’t been able to sustain the foundation.”
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
She continued, “I saw you at our studio a few weeks ago so why didn’t you bring this up then @RHYMEFEST? You were trying to get Kanye to listen to your sub-par beats. You have the audacity to use Kanye’s mom name to try to shed a negative light on Kanye.”
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Disappointed Rhymefest did not address the issue privately Kim then threatened to make it her “mission to take Donda’s House from you and let my children run it the way it should be run!”
“Oh and lastly your flight canceled to Wyoming. You thought you were really worthy to be on this album ???,” Kim said before apologizing to her followers for the overflow of tweets, “I know you have no idea who Rhymefest is.”
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Rhymefest responded professionally with a lengthy statement. First confronting her joke about his lack of mainstream popularity, “Dear Kim Kardashian-West, I don’t care if no one on your timeline knows who I am. The people in my community and my city do, and that’s what truly matters to me.”
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
As for his canceled flight to Wyoming, Rhymefest claimed, “Kanye asked me if I would come help him with his album again, I wasn’t seeking Kanye…he was seeking me.”
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
He also added that when he attempted to talk about the foundation and work done in Chicago, the Jesus Walks rapper was more interested in his music.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Having been mentored by Dr. Donda West himself and witnessing the empowering and support of over 500 youth in the last six years, Rhymefest mentions he has yet to see Kim at an event or even support financially.
“At this point, if you and Kanye want us to dissolve the organization so you can do the work, we welcome that…As we will continue from our home on the South Side of Chicago, to do what we can to support the community we’ve worked five years to build in spite of you & Kanye’s lack of interest or support. You’ve been not privy to the conversations that we’ve had, the emails that have been sent, and frankly, the positive press that Kanye has received as a result of our work. I encourage you instead of attacking me personally, to google us, watch the videos on our YouTube channel featuring our work and come actually speak to the young people who have been involved in our program before you, in your position of privilege from God knows where in the world, via social media attempt to dismantle this valued community asset. You and your team know how to get in contact with me, and we are awaiting your decision, because our community will be ok, regardless.
Shortly after the Twitter feud, Donda’s House Released a final statement revealing that they would soon operate under a new name.
“Due to recent events that have occurred over the last 48 hours, we have decided to no longer use the name Donda’s House, Inc,” the statement, released on Twitter, said. “This has been an incredibly difficult decision but the social media quotes from Kim Kardashian West, as well as the expressed interested of her family running the organization, has brought us to this decision.“
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Of course, Kim had to have the last word, therefore, she again took to Twitter breaking down her husband’s involvement with Donda’s House and Rhymefest.
“Kanye and Donda started a charity called Loop Dreams. When Donda passed, they changed the name to Donda’s House. Kanye paid Rhymefest a salary to run it.”
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Kim continued, “After several years of lack of performance from the organization and Kanye going through personal financial issues, he could no longer fund salaries. Rhymefest asked to take it over and Kanye agreed with no financial strings attached.”
“I have and will always applaud any efforts to give back to the community. To fight for justice and to help uplift the youth. But I will never tolerate someone who was close to Kanye who attempts to use his late mother’s name to publicly shame him while pretending to do good.”
“I will always ride for my man,” Kim tweeted in conclusion.