Kanye West defended rap mogul Jay Z upon his return to Twitter on Friday following a temporary ban for sharing a journalist’s phone number on his timeline.
Kanye, 43, tweeted screenshots of messages by blogger Akademiks, featuring the headline, “Jay Z Allegedly Sold Kanye’s Masters to Get Own Masters Back.”
“Don’t let the system pit us against each other,” Kanye tweeted on Friday. “JAY IS MY BROTHER … I have eternal love for all artist that have been through and are still trapped this crooked system. Jay still doesn’t get his own masters back for ten years. I will see to it that we all get our masters.”
He added: “we will change the paradigm.”
Kanye, who is battling Universal Music Group for ownership of his masters, posted his entire contract on Twitter earlier this week.
Several music industry execs who read through the contracts concluded that Jay Z sold Kanye’s first six albums in order to get his own masters back.
@lavidaNOTA, a South African label owner, wrote:
“Kanye contracts SUMMARY: Apart from the inducement which Kanye had to sign to get his advances. This shows that Jay Z sold the masters to first 6 @kanyewest’s albums just so he could get his own back. He did so knowing Def Jam won’t sell them back to Kanye in future. That’s BEEF!
“[Kanye] owns album[s] 7-10 but the most lucrative and most critically acclaimed albums are owned by Roc-A-Fella which is wholly owned by Def Jam… The majors will never sell you your masters because that’s what gives them market share and drives profits and Jay Z knew that.”
Kanye contracts SUMMARY: Apart from the inducement which Kanye had to sign to get his advances. This shows that Jay Z sold the masters to first 6 @kanyewest’s albums just so he could get his own back. He did so knowing Def Jam won’t sell them back to Kanye in future. That’s BEEF! pic.twitter.com/HFYEx0Lv8u
— The Authority (@lavidaNOTA) September 17, 2020
He owns album 7-10 but the most lucrative and most critically acclaimed albums are owned by Roc-A-Fella which is wholly owned by Def Jam… The majors will never sell you your masters because that’s what gives them market share and drives profits and Jay Z knew that. @SizweDhlomo
— The Authority (@lavidaNOTA) September 17, 2020