Taylor Swift credits Jay Z for Kanye West friendship

Taylor Swift, Jay Z and Kanye West at The 57th Annual Grammy Awards, 2015. Photo / Getty Images

American pop superstar Taylor Swift has credited rapper Jay Z with helping to mend the rift between herself and fellow muso Kanye West.

West infamously invaded the stage at the MTV Video Music Awards in 2009 in protest to Swift's win for Best Female Video, insisting the prize should have gone to Beyonce.

The rapper subsequently apologised to Swift and in February they officially put their differences aside by hugging at the Grammy Awards and then publicly dining out together.

Swift has now opened up about the odd friendship to Vanity Fair magazine, admitting mutual friend Jay Z, who is married to Beyonce, played a big part in bringing the two former rivals together.

Kayne West jumps onstage as Taylor Swift accepts her award for the Best Female Video award during the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. Photo / Getty Images

"I feel like I wasn't ready to be friends with (West) until I felt like he had some sort of respect for me, and he wasn't ready to be friends with me until he had some sort of respect for me - so it was the same issue, and we both reached the same place at the same time," Swift told the magazine.

"I became friends with Jay Z, and I think it was important, for Jay Z, for Kanye and I to get along. And then Kanye and I both reached a place where he would say really nice things about my music and what I've accomplished, and I could ask him how his kid's doing," she added.

Swift also used the interview to play down rumours of a collaboration between herself and West.

"We haven't planned anything. But, hey, I like him as a person. And that's a really good, nice first step, a nice place for us to be."

- WENN