Was singer/Taylor Gang member/Atlantic Records signee Ty Dolla $ign forced to remove Joe Moses from his single "Paranoid" due to labelmate T.I.'s sensitivity?
Ty Dolla's "Paranoid" originally came out on producer DJ Mustard's Ketchup mixtape, then was released again on Ty's Beach House 2 earlier this year. In both instances, it featured a guest verse from Ty's friend Joe Moses. But when the song was officially released and pushed as a single later in the year, Moses had been replaced by Ty's fellow Atlantic Records artist B.o.B. (You can see the video here.)
B.o.B. has a new album coming out at the end of December; perhaps Atlantic was just hoping to give the rapper a boost of visibility with a potential hit song. But one blog—run by occasional Complex contributer Marty Macready—had an anonymously-sourced alternate theory.
In Moses' verse he spits the lyric: "See, all my bitches is bad I'm not T.I./Ain't no Tiny's around me, uh-uh, bitch." T.I., of course, was one of Atlantic Records' best-selling rap artists (he is no longer signed to the label); Tiny is Tameka Cottle, the rapper's wife and a member of R&B group Xscape. (Sidenote: This isn't the first time Tiny's been dissed in a rap verse; Biggie's "Dreams (Just Playin')" also had some not-so-nice things to say about the girls from Xscape.)
Could Tip have been so offended by the lyric that he insisted that the label pull Moses from the single?
Ty was in New York last week, performing alongside Vic Mensa and Deniro Ferrar at the Knitting Factory. He swung by the Complex office the next day, and as he made his way to the elevator doors, he was asked about the rumor. His response?
"No, that is not true." He paused. "That is hilarious."
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