Mykki Blanco Says They’ve Not Been Paid for Teyana Taylor Feature; Teyana Blames Kanye
Mykki Blanco has claimed that they’ve not been paid for their feature on Teyana Taylor’s K.T.S.E. song “WTP.” Mykki also claimed “it took [one] year with the help of [their] lawyer to get credited on the song,” and they asked fans to stop streaming the track. Mykki wrote:
The reason I have gone public with this is not to bad mouth [Teyana Taylor], but her ENTIRE team and Universal [Music Group] have treated me WITH SO MUCH DISRESPECT, THEY HAVE TREATED ME BAD Y’ALL... REALLY BAD, I HATE DOING THIS ON SOCIAL MEDIA BUT I HAVE HAD IT!!!!! It’s a pandemic, like so many musicians I’m completely out of work. I’m doing writing jobs here and there but almost all of my income like so many others stems from touring. I’ve had it, I didn’t want to go public but the way I have been treated is really, really, really bad. These people have been flippant, rude, they have lied, delayed, found me “harmless” and “inconsequential.”
Teyana Taylor responded to Mykki Blanco, claiming, “ALL of it falls on Kanye [West] because he put Mykki on the song.” (West executive produced K.T.S.E. as the fifth release of his 2018 Wyoming albums.) Taylor added that she wanted to have dancer, choreographer, and Pose actor Dashaun Wesley on “WTP,” not Mykki Blanco. “I had no clue [Mykki Blanco] was on the song until they played it for me the day before my album release party,” Taylor wrote.
Following Taylor’s statement, Mykki Blanco wrote (in all capital letters), “I have two years worth of emails from your side literally ignoring my manager, ignoring my business manager/accountant, and ignoring my lawyer.” They added, “Teyana, don’t play me, this DOES NOT ALL FALL ON KANYE. Just own your side and move on.”
Ultimately, Taylor decided to join Mykki Blanco in urging fans not to stream “WTP.” She tweeted at Universal Music Group and Kanye West, “pay [Mykki Blanco] & keep me out of the drama. I don’t bother anybody. I’d like to continue my unproblematic life in peace.”
When contacted by Pitchfork, a Spokesperson from Def Jam wrote:
It is regretful that Mykki Blanco was not credited and compensated sooner. Although Def Jam and UMG were not party to the original agreement, once we were made aware of the issue by Teyana’s team, we intervened on her behalf and worked expeditiously to rectify it. We are happy to report that an agreement has been reached and the matter has been settled. Teyana Taylor, for her part, had no culpability in the matter.
Teyana Taylor later tweeted a screenshot of an email from Mykki’s manager David Swartz to her manager (also Taylor’s mother). “I appreciate David for trying to fix this but unfortunately unnecessary damage has been done,” Taylor tweeted. She added: “Myself & my team names has been slandered & defamed & lied on Publicly. 🤦🏾♀️ not cool.” Find Taylor’s tweet below.
Mykki’s manager David Swartz offered the following comment to Pitchfork:
With regard to compensation for Mykki’s various contributions to “WTP” and “Hurry” on Teyana Taylor’s K.T.S.E. album released over 2 years ago, Mykki has received no money for their work to-date at all—no feature fee nor royalties of any kind, yet. It took over a year and a half following the release of the album to even get Mykki listed as a featured guest performer on “WTP” on the digital music services; and it was more than a year after the music video for “WTP” was released that they finally added Mykki’s name as a featured artist to the title of the video on YouTube. The responsibility of resolving this issue lies solely with Teyana’a label—GOOD Music / Def Jam / Universal Music Group—they were the ones who solicited Mykki to work on the Teyana album in LA back in June 2018 just days before it was due to be released and they are the collective entity tasked to handle formalizing the grant of rights and compensation for the contributing creatives for this album.
Representatives for Mykki Blanco offered no comment when reached by Pitchfork. Pitchfork has also reached out to representatives for Kanye West for comment and more information.
Originally Appeared on Pitchfork