Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for Surface Magazine
Before Kanye West became a spoiler candidate for president, he was a popular musician, and like many of them, he has a record deal with a major label. On Wednesday, West fired off a tweetstorm that brought his issues with Universal Music Group, the parent company of Def Jam and his label G.O.O.D. Music into sharp relief. West is pursuing ownership of his master recordings but claims that he is being held back by over ten different record contracts; West went on to tweet hundreds of pages of documents over dozens of tweets and asked "every lawyer in the world" to review them.
West's issues with Universal were backed by producer Hit-Boy, who worked with West on songs like "Niggas In Paris" and "Clique" and was signed to G.O.O.D. Music for two years. Writing on Instagram, Hit-Boy blasted Universal's publishing wing, Universal Music Publishing. "@umpg has held me in what the last 3 lawyers Ive hired have referred to as the 'worst publishing contact [sic] they’ve ever seen' since I was 19 years old... If they’re doing this to me with all I’ve accomplished through hard work I can only imagine the kids who don’t have big placements/ proper guidance."
The FADER has reached out to UMG for comment.
