Kanye West Claims Label Released ‘Donda’ Without His Approval

Ellise Shafer
·2 min read
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Kanye West is claiming that Universal Music Group, parent company to the label Def Jam, released his new album “Donda” without his approval.

In an Instagram post on Sunday — just hours after the long-anticipated “Donda” was released around 8 a.m. — West wrote: “UNIVERSAL PUT MY ALBUM OUT WITHOUT MY APPROVAL AND THEY BLOCKED JAIL 2 FROM BEING ON THE ALBUM.”

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Representatives for Universal had no comment on the allegation, but sources at the company called it “preposterous.”

His mention of “JAIL 2” refers to the album’s 24th track, “Jail Pt 2,” which was originally unavailable to stream when the album first released. Around 1 p.m. ET, the song became available. Typically, when a song on an album is blocked from streaming on a service such as Spotify, the song has not been cleared legally because of a copyright conflict or similar issue.

The track — and its counterpart, “Jail” — has been a cause for controversy over the past few days, as the former features both Marilyn Manson, who has been accused of sexual assault by several women, and DaBaby, who made headlines earlier in the month with his homophobic comments. Both Manson and DaBaby made appearances at West’s fourth “Donda” listening event on Thursday in Chicago, causing immediate backlash on social media. The criticism continues on Sunday, as noted by the likes of label veteran Drew Dixon.

The features on “Donda” have become a focal point on social media ever since it was revealed at the listening event on Thursday that Jay-Z’s verse on “Jail” had been replaced by a feature from DaBaby (Jay-Z’s verse has since been reinstated). On Sunday, rapper Soulja Boy made it known on social media that his verse had been cut from the track “Remote Control,” and Pusha T also appears to no longer be featured on the album’s titular track.

Def Jam sent a press release announcing the arrival of “Donda” at 10:39 a.m. ET.

Representatives for West and Def Jam did not immediately respond to Variety‘s request for comment.

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