Following Kanye West's most recent series of tweets, in which he shared his contracts with Universal, Hit-Boy has chimed in with his thoughts.
"I haven't been a fan of Kanye on a personal/human level since he told me face to face he stopped picking my beats because I worked with Beyoncé," said Hit-Boy on Instagram alongside a screenshot of a Kanye tweet regarding record contracts. "This is after I produced 'n***as in paris' , 'clique', and a myriad of other songs / projects for him and his label GOOD Music in the 2 years I was signed with them."
Hit-Boy worked extensively with Kanye in the earlier days of Hit-Boy's career, producing tracks such as the aforementioned "N***as in Paris" and "Clique," as well as "Cold" and "Christmas in Harlem." In more recent years he's worked with the likes of Meek Mill, Big Sean, Juice WRLD, and Jay Electronica. It is unclear which Beyoncé collaboration led to Hit-Boy and Kanye's issues, although he did contribute to four songs from Bey's 2013 self-titled album.
Upon hearing of Hit-Boy's post, Kanye responded in a pair of tweets. "From HITBOY LETS GOOOOO," he wrote with a screenshot of the post, then adding his response to the allegation they stopped worked together because of a Beyoncé collaboration. "Hi guys," he tweeted in all-caps. "Trust me we will not stop ... Hit-Boy first to stand up ... I didn't have a problem with him producing for Beyoncé ... I had a problem with the fact he was signed to me and I didn't know but I knew Jay and Beyoncé and Hit-Boy ... Just for clarity."
Despite his personal feelings about 'Ye, Hit-Boy added that he completely agrees with the assertion that the music industry has some clear issues in regards to the contracts they push on artists. "@umpg [Universal Music Publishing Group] has held me in what the last 3 lawyers Ive hired have referred to as the 'worst publishing contact they’ve ever seen' since I was 19 years old," Hit-Boy continued. This is, as he puts it, despite his continued success in producing countless records over 10 years since signing the contract.
"If they’re doing this to me with all I’ve accomplished through hard work I can only imagine the kids who don’t have big placements/ proper guidance," he added. "If I have to be the one to get blackballed for telling the truth and trying to set the next generation free then so be it." He went on to tag numerous labels, including Roc Nation, asking them to "fix" the current situation. "Slave deals are still very real/rampant in 2020."
Later Hit-Boy said more on IG, captioning an archival clip, "Me big Sean and Kanye in London in 2012. Ye made some of the best music ever imo and influenced me heavy when it comes to stylized production. Him going from calling me the golden child and saying GOOD needs me to us not working used to kill me. But I thugged thru it and kept working. 2020 has showed me everything comes full circle. I wouldn’t have been able to make Kings disease with @nas or help @bigsean with Detroit 2 if it wasn’t for me studying ye and all the ones who came before me for years. It’s all respect on my side. I want out of my contract with @umpg after 14 years and the tweet Kanye sent out sparked me to speak on that."
Big Sean replied with “facts” and some fire emojis. Also supporting Hit-Boy in the comments of the two posts were Miguel, Rapsody, Guapdad 4000, Problem, Rich the Kid, Cortez Bryant, and many more.
Universal Music Group is a parent company of a large number of record labels, including Def Jam and G.O.O.D. Music among others.
