During an extended speech at Clive Davis' recent pre-Grammys gala, Diddy called out the Recording Academy for overlooking rap and R&B musicians in major categories.
"Every year y'all be killing us man," Diddy said. "The amount of time it takes to make these records, to pour your heart into it, and you just want an even playing field. Despite his valid criticisms of the Grammys, Mase has taken issue with the speech via lengthy Instagram post in which he claimed that Diddy still owns his publishing rights despite attempts to buy them back.
"Your past business practices knowingly has continued purposely starved your artist and been extremely unfair to the very same artist that helped u obtain that Icon Award on the iconic Badboy label," Mase on Friday alongside a picture of Meek Mill. The former Bad Boy artist claims that 24 years ago, Diddy gave him $20k for his publishing rights, which he added has made him "never want to work" with him again. The deal he signed with Diddy earned him "peanuts," Mase added.
Mase said he attempted to buy back the publishing rights recently, but was met with a response that said he would only do so if he could match "what the EUROPEAN GUY OFFER him." He claimed his only other option is to wait until the rights revert back to him. "You bought it for about $20k & I offered you $2m in cash," he wrote. "This is not black excellence at all. When our race is enslaving us. If it's about us owning, it can't be about us owning each other."
The rapper has said that Diddy is everything he spoke out against, exploiting young musicians as much as those he targeted in the 50-minute speech. "No more hiding behind 'love,'" he continued. "U CHANGED? GIVE THE ARTIST BACK THEIR $$$. So they can take care of their families."
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The picture of Meek Mill also includes a recent tweet from the Philly rapper, in which he called out the music industry for signing young black artists into exploitative contracts. "Wassup with all these DIFFERENT RACE men got all these young black kids in slave contracts in the music business?" Meek asked. "Come get wit us you need help fixing ya situation #DC X #ROCNATION It's literally stealing now we found something we can get rich off!"
