Rapper Starts Open-Letter Beef With Record Label

In a lengthy (and grammatically iffy) missive on HHNLive.com, rapper Ras Kass presents a laundry list of complaints against Capitol Records, alleging mismanagement:

It seems to me and many others that since the year 2000 Capitol is either unable or unwilling to offer me an opportunity to (1) release and market my music and (2) thereby allow me to generate income for myself and the company. So the logical and fiscal thing to do would be to allow a third party capable of successfully translating my talent into profit, do just that. Instead I’ve been foiled in every attempt to either work within the confines of Capitol; when I’ve tried to find any amicable way of bringing in any interested third party I’ve been thwarted by egomaniacal executives who refuse to be the least bit reasonable in my efforts to work out a solution for all parties involved.

For six years EMI/Capitol has enforced a contract that they have breached time after time, paying attorneys thousand of dollars to bind me to a record deal that they themselves refuse to honor. I ask you, how is not allowing me to generate ANY income financially viable for their shareholders? How is not allowing me to work within or outside the company for six years morally justifiable? Now, after an entire decade, one third of my life, watching this label’s entire artists’ roster change at least five times over, I simply would like to ask why? Why are you doing this to me?

Among the more specific allegations: – That Dr. Dre wouldn’t allow to a song he produced for Ras Kass to be released as a single. – That Capitol tried to counter-sue him out of existence when he sued the label for breach of contract. – That he is considered “one of the most prolific urban poets of our time.”

Ras Kass Releases Open Letter To Capitol Records [HHNLive.com]