Cyrus Langhorne
Top Dawg Entertainment's Anthony "Top Dawg" Tiffith has stepped forward to address recent comments shot at his artist Kendrick Lamar in connection to the industry's current record deal structures.
Top Dawg jumped onto his Twitter page to take a direct shot at the fellow music mogul.
“TELL SUGE I SAID IF HE KAN SHOW ME 1 CHECK WE PAID 2 INTERSCOPE OFF OF R TOUING..ILL SELL HIM TDE 4 $1, NOBODY GETS SHIT OFF OUR TOURS. #TOP,” TD tweeted April 16. (Top Dawg’s Twitter)
During an appearance on “Arsenio” a few weeks ago, Suge discussed today’s record label politics and singled out K. Dot and Game.
“The deals are still messed up. I think it’s unfair if you really look at it, if you look at Interscope, the two guys from Compton–Game, Kendrick Lamar–got two of the worst deals in the industry. And when you look at it, it’s not so much the production company fault, but what people don’t realize is that if you’re on Universal, it’s the ship. Then Interscope get they cut, then Aftermath get they cut, then G-Unit get they cut. Then the guy who really has Game signed, it was another production company, then it came to Game. The reality is there’s more slavery now than ever.” (“Arsenio”)
Knight took things a step further by comparing the record contracts to slavery.
“When you were a slave you knew it was bad. When you was a slave, you was like ‘sh*t, it’s bad.’ But it’s worse when somebody make you be a celebrity and put you on a status and you thanking a person for stabbing you in the back.” (“Arsenio”)
Back in October, Suge said K. Dot embodied a lot of characteristics his former Death Row artists shared during their mid-1990’s run.
“Kendrick is a dude that’s an incredible artist. I’m not surprised because he’s from Compton. He grew up in Compton, that’s where he lived at, hung out at, and the guys he hangs with from his neighborhood, is p-folk. So there’s no way it wouldn’t rub off on him. There’s no way that his vision wouldn’t be aggressive or that he wouldn’t have the lyrics he has, if he didn’t grow up there. Kendrick know, anybody from Compton, that’s pretty much saying they’re a Death Row artist. That’s what they grew up to, that’s what they know, that was the people they’re involved with… they mimicked their stuff off of the blueprint I laid down. But Kendrick by far is one of them guys that they can’t f*ck with. They can’t f*ck with that boy lyrically and they better not sleep. Kendrick got a whole army behind him. He got real love out here.” (Medium)
