What did Kanye West say about Free Maiden? Former manager responds to the rapper’s claim about $3M dispute leading to Donda 2 streaming removal

Kanye West's Donda 2 could be pulled from streaming.

The lost 2022 project made it to streaming platforms just this Tuesday night, and shortly after, Ye revealed that he had been threatened with a lawsuit from managers of producers who worked on the album, citing financial compensation.

“Free Maiden tried to charge me 3 million dollars for these beats from people I showed how to make beats to now he going to take down Donda 2,” Ye wrote to X. “Managers.”

Billboard has reported that Free Maiden appears to be the manager of producers BoogzDaBeast and Brian “AllDay” Miller, who worked on several tracks on the album, including 530, Broken Road, City of Gods, Get Lost, We Did It Kid, Too Easy, and First Time. Vibe has reported that Free Maiden has also served as, in the past, Kanye West's manager.

Everything we know about Kanye West and Free Maiden's beef so far:

Ye also uploaded alleged texts between Free Maiden and himself in his tweet on X, one of which reads as follows:

“We did not & do not consent to the usage of our work for Donda 2 or ANY Ye project. He’s owed us $ for almost 3 years now, has refused to pay, yet keeps stealing our work.”

Ye, however, continued to threaten them with taking the tracks down:

“The lawyers are getting this taken down within the hour.”

At the time of writing, it remains unclear if Kanye West followed through on his words, seeing as how the lost project is still up for streaming on YouTube Music, Spotify, and iTunes.

Speaking with AllHipHop, Free Maiden slammed the Donda hitmaker:

“Ye, as former brothers, you going to social media is weak as hell when you’re wrong. You had a chance to address and handle our outstanding issues and speak as men […] You chose to run, duck, hide, and continuously steal our sh*t! Why you think you have the right to continue to steal from us and monetize the work is very slum landlordish. Get on the phone like a man.”

Free Maiden, who claims his clients were never paid for their work on Kanye West's album, went on:

“I’ve purposely kept our dispute quiet. I believe in keeping family business family business. If I was a lame, which I’m not, I coulda been outted his slumlord a** ways. […] This man has been stealing for years, but I always protected him. I’ve saved Ye nine figures in attempted lawsuits alone in the past. Gloves off now.”

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Vibe has reported that Free Maiden was instrumental in Ye's career. He was the one to discover the producer, introduce him to the music industry and later Jay-Z, and run his label and publishing company. He also served as the executive producer for jeen-yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy, Netflix's documentary about West.

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