Kanye West says Universal released new album Donda without his approval

Yesterday (29 August) afternoon Donda - which has been delayed since 23 July - appeared on streaming services, featuring collaborations with Jay-Z, Travis Scott and Baby Keem, The Weeknd, Lil Baby and more, and last night Kanye West took to Instagram to announce that Universal "put my album out without my approval and they blocked "Jail 2" from being on the album."

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by ye (@kanyewest)

"Jail pt 2", which was debuted at Ye's third listening party event in Chicago last week and features DaBaby (who was heavily criticised for making homophobic comments during his Rolling Loud Miami set), was added to streaming services later than Donda. Prior to its release, Kanye West shared screenshots of texts with his manager Bu Thiam, who wrote that DaBaby's manager wasn't clearing the rapper's verse. Kanye West responded: "I'm not taking my brother off. He was the only person who said he would vote for me in public."

DaBaby’s manager isn’t clearing his verse on “Jail” on Kanye West’s ‘DONDA,’ according to text messages shared by West:

“I’m not taking my brother off. He was the only person who said he would vote for me in public.” pic.twitter.com/hEmxVp5hTC

— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) August 29, 2021

DaBaby's manager Arnold Taylor responded on Instagram to Kanye West's screenshots about the verse not being cleared, writing, "This is CAP, I woke up this morning to this social media bullshit. I never got a call or email from Kanye West, Bu Thiam, John Monopoly, I just received it today and Cleared it in 2 seconds. Why wouldn’t I want a hit song out when #SCMG is all about the growth and culture of hip hop and my artist!!! "