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Mykki Blanco has claimed they’ve not been paid for their guest spot on Teyana Taylor’s ‘WTP’, a song taken from the singer’s second album ‘K.T.S.E.’ (2018).
Blanco explained that they felt the need to go public and urge fans not to stream the song due to financial troubles resulting from coronavirus‘ stranglehold on the live music industry.
“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!!!!!” Blanco wrote.
. It’s a lie, after 2 years and during a pandemic they still act like paying me a simple feature fee is a joke. This song and these people do not support Black, Trans & Queer people, it’s a lie I’m done participating in. . Universal thinks making me wait 2 years for proper credit and a simple feature fee is okay. They think I’m a small artist with inconsequential reach. . Please I ask you, stop streaming and never stream again “WTP”.They continued: “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'”.
Elsewhere in the posts Blanco claimed “it took [one] year with the help of [a] lawyer to get credited on the song”.
In response, Taylor alleged the blame lies with Kanye West. “ALL of it falls on Kanye because he put Mykki on the song”, she wrote.
@MykkiBlanco @kanyewest @UMG @defjam y’all figure this shit out and keep my pregnant ass outta this. https://t.co/eQifS3T36P pic.twitter.com/1ERtTLVsWM
— TEYANA M.J. SHUMPERT (@TEYANATAYLOR) July 17, 2020
West executive produced Taylor’s album ‘K.T.S.E.’ as the fifth release of his 2018 ‘Wyoming’ records.
Taylor added that she wanted to have dancer, choreographer and Pose actor Dashaun Wesley on ‘WTP’ , not Blanco. “I had no clue [Blanco] was on the song until they played it for me the day before my album release party,” Taylor wrote.
Blanco then refuted Taylor’s claims that it “ALL falls on Kanye”.
“I have two years worth of emails from your side literally ignoring my manager, ignoring my business manager/accountant, and ignoring my lawyer,” Blanco wrote. “Teyana, don’t play me, this DOES NOT ALL FALL ON KANYE. Just own your side and move on.”
Ima end it like this. Real simple. STOP STREAMING WTP. #StopstreamingWTP
@UMG @kanyewest pay her & keep me out of the drama. I don’t bother anybody. I’d like to continue my unproblematic life in peace.
— TEYANA M.J. SHUMPERT (@TEYANATAYLOR) July 17, 2020
In the end Taylor joined Blanco in asking fans not to stream ‘WTP’. She tweeted at Universal Music Group and Kanye West with: “pay [Mykki Blanco] & keep me out of the drama. I don’t bother anybody. I’d like to continue my unproblematic life in peace.”
In a statement given to NME, Blanco’s manager David Swartz said: “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.”
Swartz continued: “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.”
A spokesperson from Def Jam Recordings told NME: “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.”
NME has contacted Taylor and West’s representatives for comment.
The post Mykki Blanco says they haven’t been paid for Teyana Taylor feature appeared first on NME Music News, Reviews, Videos, Galleries, Tickets and Blogs | NME.COM.
