Kanye West Reportedly Paid His Cousin $250,000 to Stop a Sex Tape From Leaking

Kanye West reportedly paid his cousin $250,000 to get his own sex tape back from a stolen laptop.

The rapper's cousin, Lawrence Franklin, claimed as much to The Daily Mail. "I was at my aunt's house when the family member who had the laptop called me, a friend of his, and my uncle to the kitchen where he opened the laptop to show a video of Kanye in clear view having sex with a fair-skinned black woman," Franklin explained.

According to Franklin, Kanye had given the laptop away as a gift to one family member. Another family member got their hands on it and supposedly discovered the tape in late 2012, which is the same year Kanye started dating his now-wife, Kim Kardashian. Ultimately, Kanye was allegedly forced to pay $250,000 to the family member who discovered the video after threatening to release it. "The family member got this money and started to buy himself a lifestyle he dreamed about," added Franklin.

'The sex tape episode started his decline—he stopped trusting people," Franklin told The Daily Mail. "At the end of the day if a member of your family had taken you for a quarter of a million dollars—so they can complete their own ambitions—who can you trust within your circle?"

Of course, Fans of 'Ye will recall the line from his The Life of Pablo track "Real Friends" where he rapped about this very situation. "I had a cousin that stole my laptop that I was fuckin' bitches on/Paid that nigga 250 thousand just to get it from him." He also mentioned a cousin on "No More Parties in L.A." with the line "And as far as real friends, tell all my cousins I love 'em/Even the one that stole the laptop, you dirty motherfucker."