Kanye West has fired back at media outlets that reported that the Chicago rapper/producer would pose nude for the risqué Playgirl magazine and information that he insisted he be paid to appear on magazine covers.
West claimed that a New York newspaper misquoted him about his proposal that magazines should pay him to grace their covers. West said that he and other marquee names should be compensated to appear on magazine covers because it would increase sales and subscriptions.
He likened the concept to the way music artists are paid publishing royalties when their records are played on the radio.
“Now are we crazy to think we should get paid for our songs to get played on the radio? It does promote us. That’s something that we should pay [for], much less getting paid. That’s what ASCAP is about, that’s what publishing is about. I think there should be a form of publishing for the [magazine] publisher,” West told AllHipHop.com. “You get money for your song being played on the radio. There is no better promotion than the radio.”
West continued, explaining his complaint and where it may have gone awry.
"Somebody at the Daily News said I won’t do a magazine unless I get paid, which just shows you how people take the liberty [to abuse power]," West said. "It’s an injustice, and it happens all the time…They made a whole story off a misquote."
The article also stated that while various publications rebuked West’s alleged demand, citing that cover stories are a form of publicity for the artist, Playgirl accepted on condition that West pose nude.
"When [the paper] asked a couple of magazines, ‘Would you pay to have Kanye on the cover,’ 15 said they wouldn’t pay me," said West. "Playgirl said we would consider giving Kanye money to be on the cover. That’s what it said in the article."
West said the story later morphed into a tale that the rapper would actually appear nude in the magazine. "How do you get that from [the original article]? That shows you how the media tries to pull something…and put it somewhere else,” he said.
