Kanye West settles lawsuit with EMI

After eight months of courtroom talks and negotiations, the legal dispute between Kanye West and his publisher, EMI, has come to an end. Ultimately, the two parties agreed to settle the lawsuit with an undisclosed amount. Currently, the most recent documents from the court have stated that ‘The Parties expect to draft and finalize a settlement agreement within the next 90 days.’

The story begins back in 2004 when Kanye first signed his contract with EMI. In that contract, it forbade Kanye from ever retiring as a songwriter, recording artist, or producer. Now, as anyone with a basic knowledge of the music industry would tell you, that is a lot to ask. However, this happened while West was recording his debut record The College Dropout and, as it often goes, an emerging artist will take what they can get. Kanye has sued EMI claiming that clause of the contract is illegal under California labour codes. Subsequently, EMI counter-sued on the basis that the rapper was breaching his deal.

The settlement comes at an interesting time for Mr. West, who’s newest record Jesus is King is set to drop this Friday, September 27th. Will the album actually drop? Fans are skeptical after his Yandhi fiasco a year ago, which culminated in a lot of hype but no album.