Kanye West Is Suing His Record Label After They Say He Can Never Retire

Rapper Kanye West’s publishing contract with EMI states that he can never retire from music. This is stated in documents that have been made public in an ongoing lawsuit according to NME.

“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,” Hollywood Reporter reported.

Kanye is currently suing his label EMI over his contract after filing two lawsuits in January.

Not only EMI (who have controlled the rights to all his songs since 2003,) but he is also suing Roc-a-Fella Records, UMG Recordings, Def Jam, and Bravado International Group.

NME outlines that West’s case argues that he has been “laboring” for EMI since 2003, and cites a California Labour Code that limits personal service contracts to no more than seven years. His suit also demands that he be allowed ownership over all the music he made from 2010 onwards.

Since 2010, Kanye has released four solo studio albums — My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Yeezus, The Life of Pablo, and Ye. High Snobiety revealed that West announced via his Instagram that his next album will be titled Yandhi.

West married Kim Kardashian in 2014. Since then, they have had three children together — North, Saint, and Chicago. Their third child Chicago was delivered by a surrogate mother. They are expecting a fourth child, which is also being carried by a surrogate.

With 21 Grammy Award wins, Kanye is the most Grammy-awarded artist of his generation, All Hip-Hop disclosed. He has won Best Rap Album three times for The College Dropout, Late Registration, and Graduation. He has been nominated at the Grammys a staggering total of 69 times.

He has released two collaborative albums, Watch The Throne with Jay-Z in 2011 and Kids See Ghosts with Kid Cudi in 2018. Kanye’s signature songs include “Through The Wire,” “Gold Digger,” “Stronger,” and “Bound 2,” to name a few. His last single released in 2018, “I Love It,” with Lil Pump was a top 10 success around the world and went platinum in the U.S. In the music video, they wear giant, rectangular body suits that are reminiscent of the characters from the video game Roblox. Within five months, the video has been watched over 414 million times on YouTube.

Despite suing his label, West might soon be on the other end of a court case after NME reported that he was being sued over a sample on “Ultralight Beam,” a song from his 2016 album, The Life of Pablo.