Thirty Three Jones | Desktop Site
In case any of you forgot that record company people are, in fact, shady, I've got two recent examples that would seem to prove this. First up, Ras Kass:
Locked into a deal with Priority/Capitol records since 1996, Ras' career has suffered for years. Due in large part to questionable decisions on the label's part, Ras Kass has had two completed albums shelved, saw a beat that Alchemist had originally sold to him get flipped into Jadakiss' single We Gon' Make It after Priority ignored Alchemist for several months, and had a side project, The Golden State Warriors, put on indefinite hold after Priority refused to give Columbia Records clearance for Ras Kass' appearance on the group's album. A couple of days ago, someone in Ras' crew leaked a letter that he wrote to the executives over at Capitol Records. Some of the highlights:
"For six years EMI/Capitol has enforced a contract that they have breached time after time, paying attorneys thousand of dollars to bind me to a record deal that they themselves refuse to honor. I ask you, how is not allowing me to generate ANY income financially viable for their shareholders? How is not allowing me to work within or outside the company for six years morally justifiable? Now, after an entire decade, one third of my life, watching this label's entire artists' roster change at least five times over, I simply would like to ask why? Why are you doing this to me? . . .
I saw no other option but to sue for breech of contract [in 2004] in hopes that it would bring attention from parent company EMI to how mismanaged my situation was, expecting they would resolve it fairly. Didn't happen, after I sued Capitol in California I was not only served with a counter-suit from Capitol in Hollywood but also sued in NYC by EMI. Lawsuits cost generous sums of money and since it wasn't financially feasible for me, I was unable to answer the New York case. In retrospect if I could've come up with another $20,000 logic prevails that EMI would have sued me in another state too, specifically to force me to spread myself thin, knowing I didn't have that kind of capital to keep expending especially since I technically hadn't worked in six years. Basically EMI won a default judgment meaning a no-show on a case that is the complete opposite allegation of the Capital lawsuit. Capital claimed I never turned in an album, while EMI registered 30+ songs in one day to ASCAP and alleged that from 2000-2003 I committed copyright infringement. They were even petty enough to sue regional mixtape DJ's who put Ras Kass freestyles on their tapes."
The most interesting thing about this, to me, is the fact that EMI sued the djs who were releasing his freestyles and exclusives, while at the same time keeping his completed records shelved. This seems like a pretty clear attempt on their part to diminish public awareness of Ras Kass, which in turn severely limits his ability to sell records. That's an odd move for a company who's ultimate goal should be to make as much money as possible off of Ras. Are these just business decisions or has it become personal?
Up next, Mos Def:
You no doubt heard that Mos Def was scheduled to release a new album, Tru3 Magic, on December 29th, a Friday (99% of new releases come out on Tuesdays). Had you gone into certain retail outlets a week earlier, you might have seen a blank case with a Mos Def cd inside of it for sale. On the same day that some stores began selling what looked like a bootleg version of Tru3 Magic, Geffen announced that the album had officially been pushed back to January. A day later, Geffen began streaming the entire album for free on their website. Geffen is now saying that this was a "limited edition pre-release" -- the "official" album, with a couple of new tracks and maybe even an actual cd cover, is now scheduled for a spring release -- though Mos Def's publicist seems as surprised as everyone else about it.
On the surface, this seems like a case of complete incompetence on the part of Geffen Records. It certainly wouldn't be the first time a record label screwed up an album release through a series of poor decisions. Yet it should also be noted that this is the final album Mos Def needs to release before his contract with Geffen is fulfilled. Any chance this is Geffen's way of getting back at Mos for putting out The Rapeover?
From OhWord: Possible covers for Mos Def's official release.
No tracks today (don't want to get sued by EMI, who have been hitting up this site heavy ever since the White Rapper article a couple of days ago). Instead, here are a couple of my favorite videos from Ras Kass and Mos Def:
Mos Def - Ms Fat Booty
Mos Def - Ghetto Rock
Ras Kass - Soul On Ice
Ras Kass - Ghetto Fabulous
1/11/2007 8:39:34 AM posted by Fresh