Kanye West wants to free his friend and fellow rapper Lil Durk from his current record deal.
According to TMZ, the 46-year-old rapper is said to be in talks with Durk’s label Alamo Records to buy out his contract.
Sources close to Kanye said that his desire to take on Durk’s contract comes after the record label blocked a collaboration between the two.
According to the sources, West and Durk (real name: Durk Derrick Banks) had worked together on a track that was destined for the LP that West has been working on in Saudi Arabia and Dubai in recent weeks, but Alamo Records CEO Todd Moscowitz refused to give permission for Durk’s verse to be released.
The two musical pals’ latest collaboration almost didn’t come to be after West released a streaming version of Vultures that didn’t feature Durk’s verse, despite previously playing an unfinished version of the single on the radio that did include it.
Although Durk responded to being left off by saying he was ‘humble’ and seemingly unfazed, neither artist shared a reason for the verse being left off.