Kanye West is suing his old label Roc-A-Fella Records and EMI April Music for the rights to old music.
According to TMZ, the Grammy-winning artist filed two lawsuits against Roc-A-Fella Records and EMI April Music. In his suit against his former record label, ‘Ye claims that he signed an exclusive recording agreement with the company and is seeking monies owed from the label.
In his second lawsuit with EMI Publishing, Kanye claims that in 2003, before his debut album College Dropout was released in 2004, he signed a contract with them that would allow him to produce songs for other artists.
The mega producer claims that he’d written over 200 songs by the end of 2011 and that he gave those songs to EMI. Kanye claims to have a dispute with EMI and he’s asking a judge to declare him his rights back to him, presumably to collect royalties.
The lawsuit is not against Jay-Z despite earlier reports. Jay-Z sold his shares of the company and is not named in the lawsuit according to reps.
“The media reports are wrong,” says the rep. “Kanye West did not sue Jay-Z. Mr. West sued a company that Jay-Z once owned a piece of, Roc-A-Fella Records. Jay-Z sold his interest in that company many years ago. There is no fight between Kanye West and Jay-Z.”
