Kanye West, also known as Ye, briefly made his 2022 album "Donda 2" available on major streaming platforms on Wednesday, only for it to be removed within hours amid legal threats, The Independent reports.
The 47-year-old rapper initially released "Donda 2" exclusively through his own platform, Stem Player, before the album appeared on services including Spotify, Tidal, and YouTube Music. However, West then revealed on social media that DeAndre “Free” Maiden, the manager of producers Jahmal “Boogz Da Beast” Gwin and Brian “AllDay” Miller, who produced eight of the 18 tracks on the album, had demanded the removal of the album from these platforms.
West shared a screenshot of a message from Maiden which accused the rapper of using their work without consent and failing to pay them for nearly three years. The message stated: “We did not & do not consent to the usage of our work for Donda 2 or ANY Ye project! He’s owed us $ for almost 3 years now, has refused to pay, yet keeps stealing our work.” The message also warned that legal action was underway to have the album taken down within the hour.
In response, West asserted that Maiden was attempting to charge him $3 million for beats created by artists he had helped to develop. He captioned the post: “Free Maiden tried to charge me 3 million dollars for these beats from people I showed how to make beats to. Now he going to take down Donda 2.” He concluded with the word “Managers” accompanied by a shrugging emoji.
This incident is part of a series of recent controversies for West who has faced removal from internet platforms due to legal or policy violations. Last week, he was banned from Twitch just seven minutes into his first live stream after delivering offensive and antisemitic remarks, including a Nazi salute and slurs against Jewish and LGBT+ communities. During the stream, West claimed that Elon Musk, owner of the social media platform X (formerly Twitter), had given him "free passes" to post discriminatory content.
West's Twitch channel was swiftly disabled with a message citing violations of the platform’s Community Guidelines or Terms of Service. He had accrued fewer than 220 followers before the ban.
Earlier in the year, actor David Schwimmer publicly urged Musk to ban West from X following a series of antisemitic posts by the rapper. Schwimmer described West’s posts as “hate-filled, ignorant bile” and appealed for the platform to remove his megaphone.
The Independent is reporting on these developments, highlighting the ongoing challenges faced by Kanye West in distributing his music and maintaining access to major social media platforms amid legal disputes and widespread public backlash.
Source: Noah Wire Services