Quote:
“It does kind of bother me that I go to my friends’ $20 million houses, and last year I was trying to figure out how to pay my mortgage....(S)treaming has decimated the income of the writer, so the writer doesn’t really have a career anymore. My ASCAP royalty checks went from a lot to almost nothing..."
...(W)hen Rhymefest stumbled upon the ARC Choir’s 1997 a cappella gospel tune Walk With Me...he forked it over to Kanye...“It was supposed to be on my demo...But Kanye had access. He was already signed to Def Jam and had an album slated, so this is the point where you could become selfish or practical..."
The song became the rapper’s biggest hit off his debut album, The College Dropout, and went on to win the Grammy for Best Rap Song..."He made that song a success...(b)ut he wouldn’t have all that without my words...I’ve written for all (but one) of Kanye’s albums...There are a lot of songs that my name isn’t even on.”
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I hope it goes without saying that the additional (legal) income of Rhymefest's "friends" comes from their record deal advances, product endorsements and touring. But
why haven't they helped him more? Rhymefest has put out only two albums since 2006. Kanye did appear on the first one, but Rhymefest isn't a guest performer on any of Kanye's albums and hasn't even been given an opening slot on any of Kanye's tours. And after having established a track record for writing multiplatinum songs, why didn't he negotiate for a bigger slice of Kanye's pie? Maybe it's because
rappers have a slightly different way of doing business.
P.S. If I were Rhymefest, I'd call for an audit-fest -- and I'd double-check to make sure that ALL of his co-writers' royalty payments have shrunken, not just his!