Photo: Active Magazine (CC by 2.0)
Juicy J posted — then deleted—a vicious Columbia Records diss track. And if the title and lyrics of rapper Juicy J’s newest single are any indication, he’s not a very big fan of his record label.
On the heels of a few strongly worded (and highly critical) tweets targeting Columbia, Juicy J uploaded a song entitled “Fuk Columbia Records” to SoundCloud. Columbia is the longtime marquee label under the Sony Music Entertainment umbrella.
The two-and-a-half-minute track didn’t beat around the bush, as its 44-year-old creator riffed about his label’s tendency to withhold or delay payments and saddle artists with predatory contracts. Similarly, the work closed with audio from a speech delivered by Prince, who was a staunch advocate of artists owning their master rights.
Prince delivered the speech after receiving the “Male Artist of the Decade for Extraordinary Artistic Achievements” honor at the 2000 Soul Train Awards. In it, he called for all talent-based music industry professionals to remember their worth as they negotiated deals and signed agreements.
Columbia Records executives didn’t immediately respond to Juicy J’s social media critiques or the diss track.
But a behind-the-scenes dialogue apparently commenced; Juicy J quickly deleted the messages in question and pulled the song from SoundCloud (though fans have uploaded it to both SoundCloud and YouTube).
The Tennessee native then took to Twitter and stated that his relationship with Columbia Records had been repaired. At the time of this piece’s writing, Columbia execs still had yet to comment publicly on the disagreement or subsequent discussions.
Juicy J signed with Columbia Records in 2012, as part of a joint deal with Dr. Luke’s Kemosabe Records. The Three 6 Mafia founding member’s latest solo album, Rubba Band Business, dropped in 2017; the work featured performances from A$AP Rocky, Wiz Khalifa, Travis Scott, and many other prominent acts.
The Three 6 Mafia is set to begin a tour on March 6th, with a show in Denver. Other performances have been scheduled into May, and additional concerts are expected to be announced in the near future.
Biting the hand that not only feeds, but has helped to get him to this point.
fu8ck out here slave master. You must be a lawyer. Slave masters feed their slaves also. Bite the hand that feeds? You’re a tool bag.
artists deserve labels to compensate them based on their contract that doesn’t include strategic accounting scams.
You would not have heard of Juicy J if not for Columbia Records
Crawl back under your bridge, troll.
Not getting into the Juicy J/Columbia thing except to say, in my opinion, the greatest “diss track” by an artist about his (or her) label is Graham Parker’s “Mercury Poisoning” from back in ’79. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZWgadswjmk and check out the “b side” of the single. Anyway, always on the side of the artists and the songwriters. Fight as much as you can to protect your work and get the respect and rewards you deserve.
Replacing Juicy J
With Juicy K
3…2…1
Ask Lil Nas X
Simps