Charlamagne Tha God Criticizes Kanye West Over Label Dispute

3 years ago

Charlamagne Tha God Criticizes Kanye West Over Label Dispute

Charlamagne Tha God believes Kanye West's battle for artist ownership is far more self-serving than he's leading on.

Charlamagne Tha God went in on Kanye West for several things, starting with 'Ye's comparison of exploitive contract deals to slavery, on the latest episode of Brilliant Idiots. Bashing 'Ye for even trying to equate the two, Charlamagne pointed out to Kanye's contract that revealed he went over budget on a few occasions on his album as one of the problems. Then, Charlamagne Tha God pointed out that a few artists that either been signed or been offered a deal with G.O.O.D Music didn't work in the favor for the artists.

"I forgot the young brother's name but he posted -- he retweeted Kanye talkin' about how everybody should get their publishing back. He was like, 'Shit, you offered me $35K for all my publishing.' And then he tweeted, 'I was mad excited to sign with Kanye until I saw that god damn offer.' But guess what that young man didn't do? He didn't sign the fucking contract.

When asked if this was a publicity stunt, Charlamagne simply noted that Kanye "simply wasn't getting what he wants." He said that he's been told Kanye's been in negotiations or has already re-upped on the deal. "Here's my thing -- pay the label back everything that you owe them. Buy your masters. Keep it movin'."

"Kanye's a billionaire. Negotiate a good price. You're a billionaire," he added.

Ultimately, Charlamagne Tha God believes this is a far more self-serving battle than Kanye's leading on. At the same time, the labels aren't necessarily going to buckle under Kanye's pressure because that situation becomes a slippery slope for the label where more artists under the UMG umbrella demand to buy back their own.

"If they buckle to Kanye, then they gonna have to buckle to a lot of other people under the UMG umbrella. Because, don't act like a guy like Drake or Cash Money, don't act like they have the money to buy back their masters at some point," Charlamagne said. "They'll probably give two of [Kanye's] masters back. They'll give him, like -- they'll probably give him the album that means most to him which I would think is his first album. And then an album that everybody says is his best album which probably would be [MBDTF]. They'll probably give him those two. They'll probably let him buy those two and he'll be cool for a second. And then be quiet. And then you'll all know this wasn't about everybody. It was just about 'Ye."

A lot of interesting observations on Charlamagne's end. How do you think this situation will play out for Kanye West? Sound off in the comments.