Kanye West vs. EMI: What You Need to Know About the Contentious Lawsuit

Kanye West is taking on his publisher, and shooting for the fences. We read the paperwork so you don’t have to. Here's everything you need to know.

kanye west getty march 5 prince williams
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Image via Getty/Prince Williams

kanye west getty march 5 prince williams

Kanye West’s January 2019 lawsuit against his publisher EMI, initially heavily redacted, has been made public. The headlines (and jokes) have mostly centered around EMI’s refusal to let him retire, but there’s a whole lot more going on here.


We read through the documents so you don’t have to. Here are the biggest takeaways in the lawsuit so far, so you’re caught up before the next hearing happens (August 26 at 8:30 a.m. in Department 62 of this courthouse, if you want to play along at home).

Why is Kanye suing?

kanye west getty gabriel olsen

What does he want?

kanye west getty brian gove2

How has this contract affected his music?

kanye getty larry busacca MTV1617

What does EMI say?

kanye getty paul natkin

Is the retirement thing really true?

kanye phone roy rochlin

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