Kanye West Sues Jay-Z’s Record Label Roc-a-Fella Records, EMI

Kanye West has reportedly filed a lawsuit against Roc-A-Fella Records, the label formerly owned by his friend Jay-Z.

West claims that Roc-A-Fella and Island Def Jam Records owe him money, in a new lawsuit obtained by The Hollywood Reporter. The suit was filed on Friday, and it had many fans speculating that there was a beef brewing between West and Jay-Z. While the lawsuit itself was heavily redacted, representatives for West jumped in to say that the two rappers are fine on a personal level.

West’s rep spoke to The Blast late on Friday night, after the lawsuit made headlines all afternoon. They said that the suit has little to do with Jay-Z, since he sold his shares of Roc-A-Fella in 2004. West’s reps assured reporters that there is “no fight” between the two powerhouse emcees, although Jay-Z has yet to issue his own response.

The suit does take a slightly personal turn when describing what West has done for the record companies. One of the few sections that has not been heavily redacted explains West’s meteoric rise in the music industry, including his work on Jay-Z’s album The Blueprint. The suit claims that West helped “revitalize Jay-Z’s career.”

In any case, the lawsuit leaves many other open-ended questions to consider. The document is covered in black lines where the details have been blacked out on the public records. The “nature of the dispute” explanation is completely redacted, and the details throughout are sparse.

Perhaps most frustratingly of all, the section where West’s lawyers state what amount he is seeking in damages is also a secret. The suit simply lets fans know that West and the record companies have “a dispute between the parties’ rights and obligations to one another under the Recording Agreement and Extensions.”

Another simultaneous lawsuit takes aim at EMI Music Publishing, which has handled West’s publishing rights since 2003. Again, the details are sparse, but West argues that the company has taken advantage of him.

“There now exists a dispute between Plaintiffs and Defendant EMI regarding the parties’ rights and obligations to one another under the EMI Contract and Extensions,” the suit reads.

West did mention his issues with EMI back in October, during one of his infamous social media rants. He apparently wants to purchase the rights to his music back, but claims he is being prevented from doing so.

“I went to go buy my publishing from Sony/ATV and they said, ‘It’s $8 million [or] $9 million’ and when I went to buy it, they told me ‘No,’ I couldn’t buy my publishing,” he said at the time. “I have the money to buy [back] my publishing. And they told me that I couldn’t buy my publishing… It’s like the control.”