Kanye West Slams Universal Music, Claims They Released 'Donda' Early, Blocked DaBaby Track
Hours after his highly anticipated 'Donda' album dropped on streaming platforms, Kanye West is claiming that it wasn't supposed to happen.
The "Flashing Lights" rapper took to Instagram and posted a single, caption-less image to his 7.8 million followers that read, "UNIVERSAL PUT MY ALBUM OUT WITHOUT MY APPROVAL AND THEY BLOCKED JAIL 2 FROM BEING ON THE ALBUM".
The billionaire artist's tenth album was named after his late mother, Donda West, who passed away tragically November 10, 2007 after complications attributed to cosmetic surgery and coronary artery disease.
The long awaited album is packed with 27 new tracks including "Jail" (which has a writing credit by disgraced performer Marilyn Manson), "God Breathed", "Hurricane", "Ok Ok", "Believe What I Say", and "Keep My Spirit Alive", but it appears that "Jail pt 2" — a song that featured controversial rapper DaBaby — is notably absent.
OK! previously reported that hours prior to the album's unexpected release, West posted screengrabs from text conversations — the first believed to have been between the rapper and manager Abou ‘Bu’ Thiam — to his Instagram, reportedly voicing his frustration over the issues revolving around "Jail pt 2".
One message said, "On another Note, DaBaby manager isn't clearing 'Jail' So we won't be able to Upload unless we take him off What's ur thoughts?" The "Power" rapper replied with confusion, "Why he won't clear jail."
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Another response included West proclaiming his adamant support for his friend, saying, "I'm not taking my brother off He was the only person who said he would vote for me in public" likely referring to his short-lived 2020 presidential run that ended after only a few months.
The Grammy Award winning performer later seemed to be talking with DaBaby in a text that read, "Yo manager cap They tried to stop you from coming in The people next to you trying to destroy you But God gotta bigger plan".
This comes after DaBaby was blasted on social media around the world when he went on a homophobic rant at the Rolling Loud music festival in late July. Though he apologized, he later deleted his social media apology and called his critics "cry babies".
West has since appeared to have uploaded the track himself to his official artist Youtube channel.
The song credits Universal Music Group, Manson, and others involved in the making of the controversial track. It does not mention DaBaby by his stage name or his real name, Jonathan Lyndale Kirk.
