Sacramento horror rappers Death Grips went a long way to scuttling their career earlier this month when they released their second major label album, No Love Deep Web, without their label’s permission. The band, signed to Epic, went on to accuse Epic of trying to shut them down when, just after the leak, the band’s website crashed. The band further needled their supposed partner by including a picture of an erect penis as the album’s cover art.
Now, the band has leaked a copy of the confidential cease and desist letter sent to the band’s manager, Peter Katsis, by Epic VP of Business and Legal Heath Kudler. to their Facebook page. In it the label expresses how “upset and dissapointed” they are in the band’s decision to undermine their distribution rights.
Unsurprisingly, they fail to acknowledge the band’s stated reason for the leak: Epic had postponed the release of No Love Deep Web until 2013, back from the album’s initial release date of October 24th. Nor do they mention the fact that Death Grips had cancelled much of their tour in support of their first release The Money Store.
I’m always inclined to be sympathetic with artists whenever they go toe-to-toe against the corporate bureaucracy, but in this case it seems that they could have mustered a better reaction than “HAHAHAHAHAHAHA NOW F**K OFF.” Mostly, I worry that Death Grips has forever poisoned the well against itself, and I like them too much to see them blacklisted far too early in their career.
Source: Spin.com