GloRilla has added her thoughts to the myriad opinions shaping the discourse in the Universal Music Group vs. TikTok dispute.
The Memphis rapper took to Instagram Live on Saturday (April 6) to express her frustration at the battle, which resulted in the major label removing all of its artists’ music from the social app following a dispute over royalty payments.
She began: “One thing I’m mad about, y’all…I’m mad ‘cus I can’t use TikTok to promote my shit. I’m made y’all can’t make TikToks to my music, man…I’m mad about that.”
She then shared some thoughts on the shocking earthquake that rocked the New York Tri-State area on April 5.
“My bad for causing them earthquakes ‘cus I hopped up out the bed…and dropped that hot shit and caused y’all two earthquakes. I apologize. New York, I love y’all. My bad. I apologize,” she added.
Check out the clip below.
Glo is far from the only rapper whose work is affected by the standoff between the two music giants.
Drake, Kendrick Lamar, Nicki Minaj and more no longer have their music available on the app.
The two companies failed to agree on a new deal relating to artist compensation and artificial intelligence, which means the music giant is no longer licensing music to the app.
Universal Music Group is one of the biggest record companies in the world with several major labels under its umbrella including Interscope, Republic and Def Jam.
UMG penned a furious open letter aimed at TikTok which they shared alongside their decision. The conglomerate alleged that the social media platform accounts for “only about 1% of our total revenue,” which they said was evidence of “how little TikTok compensates artists and songwriters, despite its massive and growing user base, rapidly rising advertising revenue and increasing reliance on music-based content.”
UMG accused TikTok of trying to “intimidate” them by “selectively removing the music of certain of our developing artists” but keeping songs from better-known musicians.
The letter also said: “TikTok’s tactics are obvious: use its platform power to hurt vulnerable artists and try to intimidate us into conceding to a bad deal that undervalues music and shortchanges artists and songwriters as well as their fans.”
The app was a useful tool for artists like GloRilla, who is currently promoting her recently released mixtape, Ehhthang Ehhthang.
The project arrived on Friday (April 5) and contains a song called “Aite,” which finds the Memphis native advocating for peace among her female rap peers. The following day, Glo and JT had a fiery exchange on social media regarding their relationship.