The-Dream was recently slated to release a project titled Jewel to complement the Crown EP that he released back in April, but it appears that that is no longer the case. The singer/songwriter/producer took to social media to announce his album delay as well as his split from Capitol Records.
The "Falsetto" singer hopped on Instagram to break things down for fans anticipating the release.
"Out of Respect for Steve Barnett I will not point any blame at Capitol records although I am reserved in my feeling about certain things. A 3 month long negotiation has ended and I am no longer being distributed by Capitol Records. My team tho in spite worked hard to retrieve masters in time to put them back up directly from Contra Paris , what happened; Because of the time the date has been pushed back as it took till yesterday to Get masters Back in order to have to even Put out at a Later Date. This is business so even though personally I am responsible for my music , the other parts sometimes you can't control and when something's not right I'd rather have the Time to make it the best vs just throwing things out. The album as you see was completely done April 21st and fortunately I own them , however when you take a product back and then want to distribute yourself after Codes are in systems at various Outlets, Tidal,iTunes exit. It has to be recoded and unfortunately the date changes based on all proceeds coming direct to Contra Paris rather than being split between a Major. Basically even tho I have the record I could not put it up either. Doesn't change the fact that I have a lot of music and would love for it to be out but Things happen when you are fighting for what's right, we all will get over. Legally that's all I can say , 'wink like a motherf*cker.'"
As noted by XXL, the split comes after The-Dream made controversial comments about records labels, comparing them to slavery.
"When the Atlanta Braves were owned by Ted Turner, he was very passionate and did whatever it took to do something good-and eventually he made money," he said. "Labels used to be the same way. Now they're corporations, and it's only about their stock. For me, that's where the evil started...artists are treated like slaves. We have terrible contracts, we have streaming services that pay one-tenth of a cent per play, we have no laws to protect us."
The-Dream's last studio album, IV Play, was released back in 2013 under Def Jam. The project included guest spots from Jay Z, Beyoncé, 2 Chainz and Big Sean, among others. IV Play debuted at number 16 on the Billboard 200 chart and sold 23,000 copies in its first week.
Jewel was originally scheduled to be released on July 10. No word on when the project will available, but in the meantime, stream Crown here:
