Report: Kanye West Leaves TIDAL, JAY-Z Threatens to Sue
JAY-Z and Kanye West’s simmering feud continues, and now, it might turn into a legal battle. Yeezy has decided to leave TIDAL over a financial dispute, and Hov’s streaming service is planning to sue.
According to TMZ, Mr. West has been displeased with TIDAL for quite some time and he feels he is owed more than $3 million, in part due to bonuses over The Life of Pablo, an exclusive that helped score 1.5 million new subscribers for the platform last year.
In addition to the bonuses, Kanye’s camp claims that TIDAL reneged on reimbursing Yeezy for music videos. The streaming service says he didn’t deliver the amount of visuals required under their contract and West says he will put them out once he’s paid.
The dissent began one month ago, when ‘Ye’s lawyer sent a letter to TIDAL to say that he was cutting ties with the company due to a breach of contract. For two weeks, lawyers from both camps tried to sort things out, but two weeks ago, Kanye’s lawyers sent another letter, claiming once again that the deal was over.
This could eventually lead to a legal battle. According to insiders, TIDAL is saying that it will sue Kanye if he breaks his exclusivity with another streaming platform, and West is reportedly willing to countersue.
In November, Kanye said he was against the label politics between Apple and TIDAL, claiming that it prevented him from collaborating with Drake. He also demanded to speak with Hov about their differences. “Jay Z, call me,” he said. “You still ain’t called me. Jay Z, I know you got killers. Please don’t send them at my head. Please call me. Talk to me like a man.”
JAY-Z addresses his fallout with Kanye on multiple songs off his just-released album 4:44, including “Kill Jay Z.” “You ain’t a saint,” raps Hov. “This ain’t ‘Kumba-yay’ / But you got hurt because you did cool by ‘Ye / You gave him 20 million without blinkin’ / He gave you 20 minutes on stage, fuck was he thinkin’?”
On “Caught Their Eyes,” JAY references Yeezy’s “Big Brother” song and their Watch the Throne collaboration, “Ni**as in Paris.” “Don’t big bro me, don’t big homie,” he raps. “I’ve seen pure admiration become rivals / I’ve been to Paris at least two times / I’ve seen the Eiffel, I’ve seen an eyeful.”