Pusha T dropped a few bombs during his recent interview with GQ. Among them was his decision to part ways with Def Jam Recordings, where he’d been signed as a solo artist for the last 15 years and where Clipse had planned to drop their upcoming album, Let God Sort ‘Em Out.
According to Push, the label wanted him to cut a verse from Kendrick Lamar on the song “Chains & Whips” over both artists’ beef with Drake—and King Push wasn’t having it. Instead, he and the Universal Music Group-owned company parted ways.
In an interview with Billboard, Pusha T’s longtime manager, Steven Victor, revealed he and Clipse weren’t dropped by Def Jam—they had to pay their way out.
“‘Find another deal, and let’s figure out a business,’” Victor said they were told. “They didn’t drop us. They were like, ‘Pay us this money’— which was an exorbitant amount of money, a s—t ton of money — ‘and we’ll let you out the deal.’ That’s what happened. We paid them the money, an insane amount of money. It wasn’t, like, $200,000. It was a lot of money for an artist to come up with. They bought themselves out of the deal.”
And it wasn’t cheap—Victor confirmed it was seven figures. But luckily for them, JAY-Z and Roc Nation were onboard to release the project, and they had a new deal in less than 24 hours, although they still had to give Def Jam a portion of the sales from the record.
“We had to give them a cut also, which is insane,” Victor added. “But the good thing about it is that Pusha is in control of his future. Now he has three deals in three different places. At the beginning of his solo career, we put out records independently with Mass Appeal; he owns those records.
“Then we did the deal with G.O.O.D. Music/Def Jam; when Kanye left Def Jam, we worked out an agreement with him where he gave Pusha his masters back on the G.O.O.D. Music side. And now we did this deal with Jay. Pusha is having way more success creatively, financially and professionally, than he did at the peak of his career, which was when [Clipse’s] “Grindin’” came out. Smart and steady wins the race.”
Pusha T cosigned Victor’s statements with a tweet that read “No Lies Told.”
Drake is currently suing Universal Music Group, so the label felt uncomfortable with a Kendrick Lamar and Pusha T collaboration, suggesting it would only exacerbate the situation. UMG has an entire team that dissects lyrics.
As Victor explained, “UMG has this department where they review lyrics. So it was that department. The real reason [that department] is there is to protect the artists and the label from lawsuits for copyright infringement. They do it for all the labels. Some labels adhere to it closer than others. Let’s say you interpolate somebody else’s song. [That department] is there to make sure that the song is properly cleared. It’s not meant to be like, ‘You said XYZ about XYZ artist, so we’re not going to release this music.’”
Let God Sort ‘Em Out is expected to arrive on July 11. Listen to the lead single, “Ace Trumpets,” above.
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