After numerous delays and false starts, Kanye West’s 10th studio album, DONDA, finally arrived on Sunday (Aug. 29) much to the delight of exasperated fans who’d been anticipating its release since its existence was first confirmed last summer.
However, the album, which includes 27 tracks and a bevy of guest appearances, has left a few artists disgruntled, including West himself, who claims that Universal Music Group released the album without his knowledge and against his wishes. Hours after DONDA landed on streaming services, the 44-year-old rapper, who’d been tinkering with the record for months, took to social media to air his grievances with the music conglomerate’s decision.
“Universal put my album out without my approval and they blocked Jail 2 from being on the album,” he wrote in a post to his Instagram account.
West went on to share a series of texts between him and his manager charging DaBaby’s manager with not clearing the embattled rapper’s verse on “Jail,” which was initially left off DONDA‘s tracklist but was ultimately added shortly after. In response, Arnold Taylor, the founder and president of DaBaby’s label, South Coast Music Group, denied those statements, revealing that he never received any forms to clear DaBaby’s verse until earlier that day (Aug. 29).
“This is CAP, I woke up this morning to this social media bulls**t,” Taylor captioned a post on his Instagram account. “I never got a call or email from @kanyewest @__bu @johnmonopoly I just received it today and Cleared it in 2 seconds. Why wouldn’t I want a hit song out when #SCMG is all about the growth and culture of hip hop and my artist!!! To all of the media blogs and outlets don’t believe everything you see in a post, thank you!!! #SCMGS**t.”
While West had his own gripes with DONDA‘s release, a few artists who were led to believe their contributions were going to appear on the album directed shots of their own toward the billionaire artist on social media, namely Chris Brown and Soulja Boy. Brown, who can be heard on the chorus of “New Again,” made his displeasure with having an additional verse axed from the song known on his Instagram Stories, writing “Kanye a whole hoe,” before adding “Nah he tweakin” in a subsequent post.
Soulja, who claimed to have worked on the track, “Remote Control,” also expressed his ire after discovering he’d been replaced by Young Thug on the album version. “This n**ga Kanye smh,” the rapper captioned a tweet sharing alleged texts between him and West. “Tell homie dont hit my phone no more.” He continued to share his disappointment in an additional post, adding “Idk how to feel, Kanye sent me that song ‘remote control’ and I don’t hear my verse on it… hmm f**k that n**ga.”
This nigga Kanye smh. Tell homie dont hit my phone no more. pic.twitter.com/jAoumHDz4F
— Soulja Boy (Draco) (@souljaboy) August 29, 2021
Idk how to feel, Kanye sent me that song “remote control” and I don’t hear my verse on it… hmm fuck that nigga https://t.co/tGIGuO3Pnr
— Soulja Boy (Draco) (@souljaboy) August 29, 2021