Pusha T has not only revealed that he is no longer the president of Kanye West’s GOOD Music label, but he’s also not affiliated with it at all anymore and is not currently speaking with Kanye West.
In a new cover story interview for XXL, Pusha T made it very clear where he stands now. “He’s not speaking to me now,” Pusha T said. “If you ain’t with it, you ain’t down. And I ain’t with it. I’m not budging on that. I’m not with it.”
Pusha T had been President of GOOD Music since 2015, presiding over a period that saw notable releases from Big Sean, Teyana Taylor, 070 Shake, West, and himself. Meanwhile, West also produced a handful of tracks on Pusha T’s latest album, It’s Almost Dry, but it looks as though the creative relationship between the pair is over for now as well. Push indicated that West’s recent anti-semitic statements on Alex Jones’ InfoWars Podcast are definitely not sitting well with him.
“It’s wrong. Period,” he said. “But to me, it’s just me and him having a difference of opinion yet again. ‘Cause we done had this for years.” He also added, “People gotta remember, too: This isn’t new for me, when it comes to disagreeing with him politically and things like that.”
Push said that he doesn’t take this fallout lightly. When asked about whether it affects him to see West go on tirades that continue to give a voice to hateful rhetoric, he simply said that “for sure” it does. “Remember, I’m the one that said the MAGA hat is the new Klu Klux Klan hood while he’s making my album,” he added. “He beefing with [former President Barack] Obama. I met Obama. But it’s the same thing with him and the Drake thing. I’m going through this and that, he’s doing shows [with Drake].”
DJ Premier reflected on the role he played in Travis Scott landing a deal with Kanye West during a new interview with Pitchfork. The legendary producer explained that he was childhood friends with Scott’s father while growing up in Houston.
Premier says Scott once attempted to get him to sign him while visiting his parents’ house.
“He was trying to get me to sign him at a time when the music he was making just wasn’t in my lane. He came to my parents’ house and sat with me, back when Nokia flip phones were a thing,” Premier recalled.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – NOVEMBER 06: (EXCLUSIVE COVERAGE) DJ Premier visits SiriusXM Studios on November 06, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Bonnie Biess/Getty Images)
While he wasn’t feeling Scott’s music, he did think it’d be a good match for Kanye’s G.O.O.D. Music imprint. Scott eventually signed to the label in 2012.
“He was sneaking pictures and his aunt is telling him to stop taking pictures,” he continued. “I was like, ‘You know what? Kanye might be into what you’re doing right now.’ I called to co-sign him, like ‘Yo, he’s got something.’ Next thing you know, he’s signing with Ye.”
As for Premier’s relationship with Scott’s father, he discussed their friendship during an interview on the Rap Radar Podcast in 2017.
“Travis Scott’s dad was one of my OGs when I was a kid in Texas,” he said at the time. “His father put me on, you know, I used to ride minibikes and I was into motorcycles real heavy and dirt bikes. His father taught me how to ride. Shout to Jacques, and shout to his brother Travis.”
Premier’s discussion with Pitchfork comes after the release of his latest EP, Hip Hop 50, Vol. 1. For the project, he teamed up with Nas, Lil Wayne, Joey Bada$$, Run The Jewels, Slick Rick, Remy Ma, and Rapsody.
In a new profile in Esquire, former GOOD Music artist Kid Cudi says it would take nothing short of a miracle to repair his fractured relationship with his erstwhile mentor Kanye West. Once upon a timeline, the two seemed inseparable; as recently as 2018, they had collaborated together on a joint album titled Kids See Ghosts and were even said to be working on an animated project based on the album. But apparently, Cudi has had his fill of Kanye’s antics in the intervening years and said “enough is enough.”
Sadly, he’s not the only artist formerly signed to West’s label whose relationship with the mercurial producer has soured since leaving the label. In fact, Kanye seems to have made it a point to alienate practically everyone who ever shared the stage with him prior to his first public show of support for Donald Trump in 2016. It makes a certain kind of sense; of course, those artists who teamed up with him after that wouldn’t have minded, but many of those who worked with him early on must feel a sense of betrayal.
Kanye certainly does. In interviews he’s given throughout the year, he’s identified his support of Trump — and his own disastrous presidential bid — as the major breaking point in nearly all of his relationships. He’s apparently felt hurt by what he perceived as a lack of support during that tumultuous time. Whether they were truly disloyal or he caused the schisms himself with his erratic behavior is debatable. But either way, it’s clear that things have gone bad at GOOD Music. Here’s where Kanye stands with his former artists.
Big Sean
During Kanye’s appearance on the Drink Champs podcast in November, he proclaimed that the worst thing he ever did was sign Big Sean. Sean himself said that he was baffled by Kanye’s comment, pointing out that he “was just wit this man, he ain’t say none of that!” After revealing that Kanye still owes him royalties from his time on the label — he completed his contract with Detroit 2 in 2020 — Sean went on Drink Champs himself a month later, calling Kanye’s assertion “some bitch-ass sh*t.” He also shot down Ye’s complaint that he was unsupportive of his presidential campaign, saying that he isn’t interested in politics one way or the other (which is something of a political position in itself). However, they were seen together at a studio in Los Angeles, leaving the ultimate fate of their relationship a big question mark.
Common
It could be argued that Kanye’s intervention revitalized Common’s musical career in the late 2000s after Com misstepped with the experimental (and misunderstood) Electric Circus. Com’s Kanye-produced follow-up, Be, is widely considered one of the Chicago rapper’s best and earned him enough goodwill to renew interest in his music. Fittingly, Com’s been reluctant to talk about the status of his relationship with the younger rapper, maintaining that he still feels a kinship with him and that he wishes they’d made just one more album together.
Desiigner
Of the former GOOD Music artists who released more than one record on the label, Desiigner’s the one whose friction with Kanye stems most from his treatment while signed there. In 2019, he admitted that he felt ignored by GOOD Music’s leadership, asking for the label to release him on Twitter after saying “I’ve been doing this sh*t myself” on Instagram earlier that year. In 2021, Desiigner released “Letter To Ye,” a nostalgic reflection on his time with the label in which he relishes the highs but also deplores the way Kanye treated him.
John Legend
Along with Kid Cudi, John Legend is one of the handful of artists who makes no bones about his standing with Kanye. Earlier this year, he told CNN’s David Axelrod, “We aren’t friends as much as we used to be.” He attributes the change in their relationship to his refusal to support Kanye’s 2020 presidential campaign, something Ye himself alluded to on Drink Champs. As Legend puts it, “I honestly think because we publicly disagreed on his running for office, his supporting Trump. I think it became too much for us to sustain our friendship, honestly.”
Kid Cudi
The fracture between Cudi and Kanye seems to stem as much from Cudi’s continued friendship with Pete Davidson as anything else. Considering how Kanye felt about those who distanced themselves from his support of Donald Trump, it makes sense he’d want his friends to side with him in his one-man war against his ex’s new (now ex-) boo. However, Cudi and Davidson had formed a bond stemming from their shared affinity for comedy and mutual struggles with mental health — something you’d think Kanye would relate to. Unfortunately, as he’s told us repeatedly in the past, he’s insecure and immature, cutting Cudi off and even cruelly mocking his old friend for being pelted with objects during his Rolling Loud set.
Teyana Taylor
It’s difficult to get a read on just where Teyana Taylor stands with Kanye these days, but when you consider her declaring her retirement from music over label frustrations in 2020, you have to imagine that at least some of that stems from Kanye. When collaborator Mykki Blanco said that they weren’t paid for their contributions to Taylor’s 2018 album KTSE, Teyana deferred the complaints to Kanye, GOOD, and Def Jam. While it is generally the label’s job to handle those sorts of disputes, it’s telling that she included Kanye in her response. After feeling underappreciated at GOOD Music, there’s no wonder that some of that disappointment would be pointed at Kanye, but Teyana has remained mum as to whether the two remain on speaking terms.
