*Kanye West is giving the term “new slave” an alternative meaning now that it has been revealed that he is contractually obligated to keep making music for EMI…and can’t ever retire.
The news is an ironic twist following Ye’s “slavery” rant on TMZ last year, during which he said, “When you hear about slavery for 400 years … that sounds like a choice … It’s like we’re mentally imprisoned.”
Now that we know he literally signed his life over to the record label, his public meltdowns make all the more sense now. Wouldn’t you agree?
According to published reports, the rapper is suing both EMI and his label following a previous effort to buy back his publishing rights that proved unsuccessful.
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At the center of the legal dispute is a provision of his music publishing contract with EMI that literally forbids him from not working. Here’s what the contract states:
“You (Mr. West) hereby represent and warrant that to [EMI] that You will, throughout the Term as extended by this Modification, remain actively involved in writing, recording and producing Compositions and Major Label Albums, as Your principle occupation. At no time during the Term will you seek to retire as a songwriter, recording artist or producer or take any extended hiatus during which you are not actively pursuing Your musical career in the same basic manner as You have pursued such career to date. (The preceding representation shall not be deemed to prevent You from taking a vacation of limited duration.)”
West seeks to “obtain his freedom” from publishing and record contracts, and as part of his legal argument, he cites California Labor Code section 2855, which limits personal service contracts to no more than seven years, per msn.com.
Kanye’s seven-year argument has the timeline starting in 2003 with “College Dropout” and ending with the November 2010 release of “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.”
“It makes no difference under section 2855 whether the contract is otherwise fair, or whether the employer has fulfilled its end of the bargain,” West’s complaint says. “It matters only whether the services began more than seven years ago. There can be no dispute that this happened here. The seven year period ended under this contract on October 1, 2010.”
The complaint also states, “EMI would have had no interest in ensuring that Mr. West continued to write, record, and produce songs, and continue to ‘actively’ pursue his music career, unless it was party to a contract with Mr. West that required him to render personal songwriting, recording, and producing services.”
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