Kanye West recently had a bit of a hard time putting his old 2022 Stem Player album Donda 2 on streaming services. That's because multiple producers allegedly did not get paid for their work on the project, something Ye got flack for online from his former manager Free Maiden.
According to AllHipHop, on Wednesday (April 30), the Yeezy mogul accused his former colleague of trying to extort him over unpaid producer fees for $3 million and try to block the release of this album. This was via a tweet-and-delete.
"Free Maiden tried to charge me 3 million dollars for these beats from people I showed how to make beats to now he going to take down Donda 2. Managers," Kanye West wrote. Now, though, Free Maiden exclusively spoke to AllHipHop's Grouchy Greg Watkins to make more claims.
Maiden claims Ye owes him a lot of money – which also goes for Kanye's alleged debts to Maiden's producers Boogz and Brian Allday over uncleared and unpaid contributions. This is for the former's 24 tracks on the Stem Player and for the latter's four tracks on Donda 2.
In addition, Free Maiden accused the Chicago artist of stealing four VULTURES 2 tracks from Boogz. Also, he denied Kanye West's claims of a $3 million extortion.
"Ye, as former brothers, you going to social media is weak as hell when you’re wrong," he told Watkins. "You had a chance to address and handle our outstanding issues and speak as men."
Who Is Free Maiden?
Maiden also claimed Kanye knew of these legal and financial issues, but used all the producers' tracks despite that knowledge. Boogz and Brian Allday worked on eight of 18 of Kanye West's Donda 2 tracks without ever seeing payment for them.
"You chose to run, duck, hide, and continuously steal our s**t," Free Maiden alleged. "Why you think you have the right to continue to steal from us and monetize the work is very slum landlord-ish. Get on the phone like a man. [...] I’ve purposely kept our dispute quiet. I believe in keeping family business family business. If I was a lame, which I’m not, I could've been outted his slumlord a** ways. [...] This man has been stealing for years, but I always protected him. I’ve saved Ye nine figures in attempted lawsuits alone in the past. Gloves off now."
For those unaware, Free Maiden reportedly discovered Kanye West, introduced him to Jay-Z, and ran his label and publishing for years. As the person who brought Ye into the industry, he also helped many G.O.O.D. Music artists and previously worked with Biggie Smalls and others. Maiden also executive-produced the Netflix documentary on Kanye.
This is far from the only accusation against Ye over production credits and lack of payment. Per AllHipHop, at least 14 sample and production-based lawsuits emerged against him since 2020, and over 10 VULTURES producers reportedly claim they haven't been paid.
