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REASON And TDE Co-President Get In Heated Debate Over 'Porches' Features
On Monday (Aug. 7), tensions flared between REASON and Top Dawg Entertainment’s upper management. The rapper voiced his grievances over his upcoming album Porches during a heated discussion on the “BACKONFIGG” podcast.
Next to him, TDE’s DJ MackWop listened as REASON criticized the West Coast label for allegedly dragging its feet on feature deals with artists like Latto and EST Gee. “We had certain features lined up that could’ve went through. We had the budget,” the musician shared.
He specified, “It was a few different things. I had Latto lined up for something, not executed. I had EST Gee lined up, not executed. Like, us not pushing through. Features lined up, we got a price set, video, and verse for the love; takes too long.”
“I’ll speak on the EST Gee s**t specifically — took too long to get through to EST Gee and his people, and be like, ‘Yo, this is what we wanna do.’ By the time we ended up connecting with him and reaching out, he dropped a record with Future, and the record went crazy. Now, the feature is $25,000 more than what it already was,” he explained.
Watch the clip below.
Top Dawg Entertainment co-President Anthony “Moosa” Tiffith Jr. later joined the episode to address the rapper’s concerns. In their back-and-forth, Moosa revealed that the record label’s former co-President and pgLang founder Dave Free had reservations about signing REASON. He alleged that Free called him a “substitute teacher.”
Challenging the musician’s focus on feature collaborations, Moosa questioned, “Oh yeah, you could’ve got an EST Gee feature, but what does that do for REASON? Like, what’s that gon’ do for REASON? Even when you say you can’t get in contact with SZA and all that. You done had features from everybody, including Q. I’m just trying to understand it, man.”
Today (Aug. 8), the rapper responded to the clip going viral on social media. He tweeted, “I appreciate [people] that’s reached out to me. Trust [me], I’m as good as I can be. We’ll have a real convo at some point about what happened. Just trust that wasn’t a ‘rollout move.’ That actually happened! All positive energy as of now moving forward, [though]!”
I appreciate ppl that’s reached out to me. Trust I’m as good as I can be. We’ll have a real convo at some point about what happened, just trust that wasn’t a “rollout move” lol that actually happened! All positive energy as of now moving forward tho! Porches Friday! Love y’all!
— REASON TDE (@reasonTDE) August 8, 2023
REASON inked his deal with TDE in 2018. Since then, he dropped There You Have It later that year and New Beginnings in 2020.
The Carson native’s Porches is slated for release this Friday (Aug. 11). It will feature a range of artists, including Doechii, SiR, Baby Tate, and Zacari. Notably, the LP was preceded by singles such as “At It Again” and “You Betta (Jesus Take the Wheel).” REASON told REVOLT, “That was one thing that I’m proud of about the album. I really crafted the majority by myself. I’m proud of that.”