Rappers Allegedly Dropped By Their Labels

In 2014, a number of what seemed like lucrative contracts ended up never materializing as supposedly promising rappers got dropped from their major label homes. It’s unclear if 2015 will bring more of the same, as a major label hustle isn’t what it used to be.

With the stigma of becoming a casualty to record industry rule no. 4080 wearing off, we look at a number of high-profile rappers allegedly dropped by their labels. Sometimes getting canned is the best thing that ever happened to them.

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Photo: Def Jam/YouTube screen capture

photo: WENN

Iggy Azalea (Interscope)

If you’re looking for a precedent of being tone deaf as it regards matters of race and culture, Iggy Azalea’s “D.R.U.G.S.” is a good place to start. The 2012 track featured a hashtag rap bar about being a runaway slave, and that was the beginning of the end of her tenure at Interscope. Iggy has hinted that Azealia Banks had something to do with her dismissal, but more on “Young Rapunxel” later.

photo: WENN

50 Cent (Columbia)

Columbia shelved 50 Cent’s 1999 album, The Power Of The Dollar. When street matters led to him taking nine gunshots on a Queens block, the label got scared and dropped him while he was recovering. That’s cold.

Trinidad James (Def Jam)

At least Trinidad James has a sense of humor about how things ended with Def Jam. After getting his walking papers two months after dropping his Don’t Be S.A.F.E. mixtape, he tweeted, “I should tell y’all. I got dropped by the label. My Album is now free. If u hear ur beat or verse on it. I hope u want dap cuz i got no money.”

Chief Keef (Interscope)

Sosa shrugged off his 2014 dismissal from the house that Jimmy Iovine built with a series of text messages. It was a strange turn for someone who reportedly signed a $25 million deal for his own Glo Gang imprint and other perks.

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Foxy Brown (Def Jam)

The circumstances of Foxy Brown’s departure from Def Jam following her shelved 2003 album, Ill Nana 2: The Fever, are murky. She and Jay Z appeared ready to do business again in 2005 while ‘Hov was the president at Def Jam, but she never dropped another album at the house Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin built.

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Gucci Mane (Warner Bros.)

Gucci Mane’s release from Warner/Elektra/Atlantic conglomerate was confirmed the only way a label splitting from a man with an ice cream sundae tattooed on his cheek could be confirmed. It happened via a series of inflammatory, incoherent tweets taking aim at half of the Rap industry. Brrr!

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Azealia Banks (Interscope)

After allegedly advocating for the dismissal of Iggy Azalea from Interscope, Azealia Banks found herself begging to be dropped from the label too. In July of 2014, her wish was granted and she tweeted the news before eventually releasing Broke With Expensive Taste independently.

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T.I. (Arista)

Getting dropped from his rookie deal with Arista may have been the best thing to happen to Tip. Despite dope cuts with T.I., Too $hort and others, his debut, I’m Serious, didn’t sell. He re-upped with a 10-year deal with Atlantic, and the rest is history.

Wiz Khalifa (Warner Bros.)

Wiz and Warner amicably called the end of the two-year pact a divorce in 2007. But the Taylor Gang captain ended up doing business with the WEA conglomerate again when he got his weight up by dropping 2011’s Rolling Papers on Atlantic.

Wax (Def Jam)

Count DMV native turned L.A. resident Wax among those who asked and was granted a release from his label. Two years after L.A. Reid convinced him to sign a lucrative, joint venture deal, both Wax and Reid left IDJ to go do their own thing.

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Papoose (Jive)

That much-ballyhooed, $1.5 million deal with Jive never resulted in the album the label wanted. But Papoose reportedly left the label with his masters, and he debuted at the #13 spot on Billboard magazine’s Top 200 albums chart with his independent, 2013 album The Nacimrema Dream.

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Eve (Aftermath)

The first lady of Ruff Ryders told MTV she was devastated when she initially got dropped from Dr. Dre’s then-fledgling Aftermath label. Dre built his roster back up, Eve stacked some hits, and it was all water under the bridge when they reunited for 2001’s “Let Me Blow Ya Mind.”