Houston's platinum freestyle king, Lil Flip, has jumped to Asylum/Warner Music Group, Billboard has learned. The artist left Columbia/Sony Urban in June, taking his third album, "I Need Mine," with him untouched -- almost. The album leaked shortly after he left Sony, raising suspicions from Flip (born Wesley Weston) that Sony was the culprit.
"All I know is my copy is watermarked, I didn't leak it and the only other people that have it is Sony," Flip says. "The point of taking the masters was so we could release the album exactly how it was. Now we have to regroup." Sony had no comment on the subject.
"I spent about six weeks to two months in negotiations for Flip's departure, but then Donnie Ienner resigned in June and I had to start again," Sandy Lal, Flip's manager, lawyer and CEO of Kingpin Entertainment, says. "Sony knew it wouldn't have been good to take the deal off the table. So business affairs continued the negotiations, and Flip had to come out of pocket to keep his masters to 'I Need Mine.'" Lal declined to comment on the price paid for the masters.
Flip, who will join fellow Houstonites Mike Jones, Paul Wall and Pimp C on Asylum's roster, says things started to sour with Sony during the run of his last album, "You Gotta Feel Me." Though the Sony Urban album went platinum, Flip still felt slighted.
"When I signed to Sony I already made a name for myself cause I sold over 150,000 units on my own without anybody's help," Flip says.
"Everybody wanted to sign me and I had fans," he adds. "With that type of ammunition, Sony was able to take me to platinum with barely any promotion. I had two videos and went over platinum. Most rappers need three to four videos to go platinum. Imagine if someone was really behind me. At this point in my career I can't settle for part of a promotional campaign, and Sony would not give me 100%."
As a result, Lal began negotiating Flip's contractual freedom. Originally, Lal was also shopping for distribution for Flip's Clover G record label and president of Asylum Records Todd Moskowitz says it may still be in discussion. Moskowitz says Asylum plans to release "I Need Mine" in 2007.
"All I know is my copy is watermarked, I didn't leak it and the only other people that have it is Sony," Flip says. "The point of taking the masters was so we could release the album exactly how it was. Now we have to regroup." Sony had no comment on the subject.
"I spent about six weeks to two months in negotiations for Flip's departure, but then Donnie Ienner resigned in June and I had to start again," Sandy Lal, Flip's manager, lawyer and CEO of Kingpin Entertainment, says. "Sony knew it wouldn't have been good to take the deal off the table. So business affairs continued the negotiations, and Flip had to come out of pocket to keep his masters to 'I Need Mine.'" Lal declined to comment on the price paid for the masters.
Flip, who will join fellow Houstonites Mike Jones, Paul Wall and Pimp C on Asylum's roster, says things started to sour with Sony during the run of his last album, "You Gotta Feel Me." Though the Sony Urban album went platinum, Flip still felt slighted.
"When I signed to Sony I already made a name for myself cause I sold over 150,000 units on my own without anybody's help," Flip says.
"Everybody wanted to sign me and I had fans," he adds. "With that type of ammunition, Sony was able to take me to platinum with barely any promotion. I had two videos and went over platinum. Most rappers need three to four videos to go platinum. Imagine if someone was really behind me. At this point in my career I can't settle for part of a promotional campaign, and Sony would not give me 100%."
As a result, Lal began negotiating Flip's contractual freedom. Originally, Lal was also shopping for distribution for Flip's Clover G record label and president of Asylum Records Todd Moskowitz says it may still be in discussion. Moskowitz says Asylum plans to release "I Need Mine" in 2007.
Up for Discussion