The rapper is suing Roc-A-Fella Records – the company once owned by Jay-Z – over the rights to his songs and his royalties, as well as one of the first music labels he had worked with – EMI.
West filed two lawsuits on Friday, one of which is against Roc-A-Fella, claiming he signed an exclusive recording agreement with the company. West is asking for “a judicial declaration of their rights under the Recording Agreement and Extensions,” however, a majority of the suit has been heavily redacted.
Another lawsuit was filed against EMI April Music, claiming they owe him money over a dispute regarding his contract, TMZ reported.
According to the lawsuit papers, in 2003, before Kanye’s breakthrough album “College Dropout,” he signed a contract with EMI, and from 2003 to 2011 he had written more than 200 songs, giving the rights to those songs to EMI. The songs included “some of the most influential and successful songs in his catalog”, although the suit didn’t specifically name these songs.
West’s suit against EMI is also heavily redacted.
“There now exists a dispute between Plaintiffs desire a judicial declaration of their rights under the EMI Contract and Extensions,” the lawsuit states.
A source close to Kanye specifically said that there’s no beef with Jay-Z with the filing of the new docs as Jay-Z had sold his share in Roc-A-Fella back in 2004 and no longer has any involvement with the company.
Sourse: sputniknews.com
