Ye
Coachella’s Co-Founder Believes Kanye West Dropping Out Of The Festival Was A ‘Good Decision For Him’
Many people are still coming down from the high that was provided at this year’s Coachella festival. Performances by Doja Cat, The Weeknd, Harry Styles, Baby Keem, Kendrick Lamar, Billie Eilish, Lil Baby, Megan Thee Stallion, and many more proved to be highlights by the end of the festival’s two weekends. With that being said, there was one name that did not take the stage at Coachella contrary to the expectations of many. That person was Kanye West as he was set to headline the festival’s third day on the respective weekends. However, he dropped out at the last second leaving the showcase to scramble for a replacement which ended up being The Weeknd and Swedish House Mafia.
In a new interview with the LA Times, Coachella’s co-founder Paul Tollett spoke about Kanye’s last-second exit and how he felt about it. “I Zoomed with him a couple days prior, and I think it was a good decision for him,” he said. Luckily for Tollett and the rest of Coachella, The Weeknd and Swedish House Mafia’s manager Wassim “Sal” Slaiby reached out to him to see what he needed for a replacement.
“Abel [Tesfaye] and Sal called and said, ‘What do you need?’” Tollett said. “I said, ‘I actually don’t know yet. Right now I’m a little stunned with Kanye leaving. I’ve got to think what to do here.’” Thankfully, the lineup change worked itself out in a couple of days as The Weeknd and Swedish House Mafia stepped into the spot that Kanye West left open.
You can check out Tollett’s full interview with the LA Times here.
Megan Thee Stallion is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
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Kanye West’s King Crimson Sample On ‘Power’ Sparks A Lawsuit
Lawsuits over samples in music seem to be filed all the time. Usually, though, the reason for them tends to be related to the sampled work not being properly credited. However, that’s not the case with the latest lawsuit Kanye West faces, from Declan Colgan Music Ltd (DCM). The suit is regarding West’s sample of King Crimson’s “21st Century Schizoid Man” on his 2010 song “Power.”
Variety reports DCM (which owns the mechanical rights to the King Crimson song, is suing Universal Music Group (UMG) due to payment issues with West’s “Power.” The suit claims the label has been underpaying on streaming royalties. DCM is seeking all sums due along with interest.
After Ye sampled the song without a license, DCM and UMG came to an agreement, allowing West to sample the song in exchange for a 5.33-percent royalty on each copy of “Power” that was sold or “otherwise exploited.” Per the agreement, UMG had to pay a royalty on the same terms West receives royalties from the track.
The lawsuit claims UMG “has failed, and continues to fail, to comply with its royalty accounting obligations in respect of one mode of exploitation, namely the making available of the Power [r]ecording to consumers through so-called ‘streaming’ services.”
So, DCM argues UMG should be paying streaming royalties based on what the sums would be if those streams had instead been physical CD sales, per the royalty agreement. Instead, DCM alleges UMG has been paying a lower amount, being the percentage of what they actually receive per stream.
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Kanye West Raps About Family On Multiple Tracks From Pusha T’s New Album, ‘It’s Almost Dry’
While most of Kanye West’s new music these days is locked behind his Stem Player, a couple of streaming-friendly Ye tracks surfaced today via Pusha T’s new album, It’s Almost Dry: He features on “Dreamin Of The Past” and “Rock N Roll.”
In a line from “Dreamin Of The Past,” West references the biblical birth of Jesus Christ before seemingly reflecting on his status as a divorced parent, saying, “Born in the manger, the son of a stranger / When daddy’s not home, the family’s in danger.”
Then, on “Rock N Roll,” Ye appears to address apparent issues he and Kim Kardashian have had co-parenting their children in recent months, saying, “Finally tired of comin’ and goin’, make up your mind / I ain’t come to pick up the kids to pick a fight.”
In January, West claimed he was blocked from visiting his kids at Kardashian’s because Pete Davidson was there. The next month, he said Kardashian didn’t allow him to bring their kids to a basketball game. In March, Kardashian asked West to leave the topic alone in the public eye, commenting on an Instagram post of his, “Please stop with this narrative, you were just here this morning picking up the kids for school.”
“Rock N Roll,” by the way, is the song both West and Kid Cudi appear on. A few days ago, Cudi tweeted of the track, “I did this song a year ago when I was still cool w Kanye. I am not cool w that man. He’s not my friend and I only cleared the song for Pusha cuz thats my guy. This is the last song u will hear me on w Kanye.”
Listen to “Dreamin Of The Past” and “Rock N Roll” above.
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