Westside Gunn just shelved a track that had fans hyped, and the reason behind it has his longtime fans extremely irritated.
The Griselda founder posted a snippet Sunday night produced by St. Louis-based producer Sovren, hyping up a new track and video that was supposed to drop, but then things got messy fast.
Behind the scenes, there’s been tension between Gunn and Sovren over unpaid royalties despite beat payments, which triggered a social media spat.
Sovren’s been producing for Griselda artists for years, with major credits including “Hell on Earth, Pt. 2” featuring Benny The Butcher and Conway The Machine, a track that’s racked up over 16.8 million streams on Spotify.
But the producer’s been frustrated about royalty payments for a minute now.
“Gunn I never mentioned you. I mentioned royalty payments which is a label issue that I been confronting for years. I never once \@ you or your name, and never claimed you didn’t pay me. Twitter did that. try n see it from my perspective. I’m just tryna make ends meet w my craft,” Sovren posted, trying to clarify the situation.
Gunn fired back hard, defending his track record and his loyalty to his artists.
“Yea but You got these ppl thinking I played and robbed you basically look at all the clown ass hecklers bc there lives miserable and wanna play off your downfall. ppl can’t wait to see WSGUNN lose bc I make ppl hate their lives just by living mine. u know I’ve ALWAYS supported u and showed u love and have 0 reason to take anything from u and u know that.. the world don’t tho so ANY lil thing here comes the f##### bums wit capes on,” he wrote, making his position crystal clear.
The Michelle Records project with Stove God Cooks has been locked down tight for nearly two years, featuring vocalist Keisha Plum and other collaborators, and Gunn’s treating it like his financial insurance policy.
Fans are torn between wanting that Sovren track released and respecting Gunn’s commitment to his imprint, but according to reports, the decision’s already made.
Some supporters are backing the producer’s struggle for fair compensation, while others see Gunn’s move as a way to protect his brand and his team’s interests.