Kanye West is in the middle of another Twitter blitz and among his many tweets, he proclaimed he wouldn’t be releasing any more music until his contract with Sony/Universal Music Group was up.
On Monday (September 14), Ye asked for other artists to send over their contracts so he could get them out of any potentially foul deals — and Big Sean was one of the first to volunteer.
“I need to see everybody’s contracts at Universal and Sony,” Ye wrote. “I’m not gonna watch my people be enslaved. I’m putting my life on the line for my people. The music industry and the NBA are modern day slave ships. I’m the new Moses.”
Sean Don replied, “FEEL FREE TO START WITH MINE” coupled with a praying hands emoji.
FEEL FREE TO START WITH MINE ??
— Sean Don (@BigSean) September 15, 2020
As part of Kanye’s Twitter spree, he also shared several screenshots of text messages that appear to be from his attorney who’s providing options to get out of the contract.
One text read, “We can argue that Universal and Sony have not supported you fully. And that as a result they have breached. This is the lawsuit/termination nuclear option. If we went that route we would litigate and ask for your masters as part of a settlement.
“This is a high risk but high reward strategy. Re masters ownership we can look into buying. But if Taylor’s cost $300 million yours would cost a lot more I assume. Remember that if you re-recorded these songs you could own these new masters outright.”
Kanye wrote in the caption, “No one from Universal or Sony has responded so it’s Go time.”
No one from Universal or Sony has responded so it’s Go time pic.twitter.com/k5K0c1t4eF
— ye (@kanyewest) September 15, 2020
Following Ye’s lightweight threat, he revealed Katie Jacobs Stanton at Vivendi — the media conglomerate that owns UMG — had reached out.
“Hey everyone we’re making progress,” he tweeted “I’ll keep everyone updated on how this meeting with Vivendi goes… If Nikola Tesla had a Twitter the world would run off AC … Edison killed Tesla’s image to control the power LITERALLY… Tesla and I only mean well for the world.”
He added, “Call with Katie Jacobs went great … this was a perfect first conversation … Speaking with Arnaud De Puyfontaine next … I’ll keep everyone updated.”
Sean signed with Ye’s imprint G.O.O.D. Music in 2007, Def Jam Recordings (currently owned by UMG) in 2008 and Roc Nation in 2014. He’s dropped six studio albums during the course of his career, including this month’s chart-topping album Detroit 2.
Aside from Sean, singer Res, who accused Talib Kweli of sexual harassment in 2018, also volunteered to let Kanye review her contract. She tweeted, “Can you take a look at my contract at Universal? Ive been trying to get my masters for my debut and 2nd shelved album for YEARS!”
Ye has yet to publicly reply to either one of them.