Kanye West has been on a mission to unshackle himself from his multiple Universal Music Group/Sony contracts. One of his major points of contention has to do with owning his master recordings, which he believes is something that should be afforded to every artist.
On Wednesday (September 23), Kanye vowed to return his portion of all G.O.O.D. Music artists’ masters, tweeting, “I’m giving all Good music artist back the 50% share I have of their masters.”
Ye then challenged UMG to do the same thing, adding, “Now let’s have Universal match me.” The tweet included a screenshot of a text conversation he was having with Elon Musk.
I’m giving all Good music artist back the 50% share I have of their masters
— ye (@kanyewest) September 23, 2020
Now let’s have Universal match me pic.twitter.com/ui7D8kyPQR
— ye (@kanyewest) September 23, 2020
Kanye has been on an extensive Twitter rant for the better part of two weeks. At one point during his spree, he claimed God put him on earth to permanently change the music industry.
“THIS MOMENT IS GOING TO CHANGE THE MUSIC INDUSTRY FOR GOOD,” he tweeted in all caps. “I FEEL SO HUMBLED AND BLESSED THAT GOD HAS PUT ME IN A STRONG ENOUGH PETITION TO DO THIS … EVERYONE KEEP PRAYING … ITS WORKING … I AM ON MY KNEES THIS MORNING.”
THIS MOMENT IS GOING TO CHANGE THE MUSIC INDUSTRY FOR GOOD … I FEEL SO HUMBLED AND BLESSED THAT GOD HAS PUT ME IN A STRONG ENOUGH POSITION TO DO THIS … EVERYONE KEEP PRAYING … ITS WORKING … I AM ON MY KNEES THIS MORNING
— ye (@kanyewest) September 16, 2020
Ye has garnered some ardent support from his peers, including Logic, Big Sean and even producer Hit-Boy who admitted he has some personal issues with the G.O.O.D. Music founder.
“I haven’t been a fan of Kanye on a personal/human level since he told me face to face he stopped picking my beats because I worked with Beyoncé,” he wrote in part. “this is after I produced n-ggas in paris , clique, and a myriad of other songs/projects for him and his label GOOD Music in the 2 years I was signed with them. This tweet is something I can agree with though.”
He added, @umpg has held me in what the last 3 lawyers Ive hired have referred to as the ‘worst publishing contact they’ve ever seen’ since I was 19 years old.”
Kanye quickly responded and assured Hit-Boy it had nothing to with Beyoncé.
“HI GUYS … TRUST ME WE WILL NOT STOP,” he tweeted. “HITBOY FIRST TO STAND UP … I DIDN’T HAVE A PROBLEM WITH HIM PRODUCING FOR BEYONCÉ … I HAD A PROBLEM WITH THE FACT HE WAS SIGNED TO ME AND I DIDN’T KNOW BUT I KNEW JAY AND BEYONCÉ AND HIT-BOY … JUST FOR CLARITY.”
Current artists signed to G.O.O.D. Music include Big Sean, G.O.O.D. Music president Pusha T, CyHI The Prynce, Teyana Taylor, Q-Tip, 070 Shake, Francis and the Lights, Valee, Kids See Ghosts and Sheck Wes. Only time will tell if Ye follows though.