Jonathan Emile is pleading with Kendrick Lamar to speak up for him in the five-year legal battle over Emile’s song “Heaven Help Dem,” which features what the independent artist claims is an original verse from K.Dot.
Emile penned an open letter on DJ Booth to Compton’s good kid, laying out his side of the story, telling tales of bullying and intimidation and asking Kendrick to stand up in defense of independent artistry against the industry giants.
“One of the reasons I wanted to work with you initially, is because you were a champion of independent thought, independent artistry and independent of the industry,” Emile writes. “I won’t pretend to know just how much control you have over your career or business, but I do hope that you will read this letter and understand what the action of your team and label will do to independent artists.”
The Canadian artist maintains that he reached out to TDE in 2011 with a genuine interest in working with Lamar and the label was initially receptive. After several back and forths and two payments from Emile, MixedByAli sent K.Dot’s verse over. But then, Emile claims, all communication stopped.
Then, he dropped the song on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in January of 2015 and sent a courtesy letter to TDE. The song gained traction, but Emile says he got a call from Top Dawg himself soon after, demanding that he take down the song at the request of Interscope and Universal Music Group. (Kendrick was still independent when he recorded the verse for the song.)
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“Heaven Help Dem” was removed from SoundCloud and YouTube about a week later with a copyright infringement notice.
“The situation left me frustrated and feeling completely powerless after all the love, money, time and energy invested into the release of this song,” he shares.
The artist, who wanted to use his music to empower others and share his story of surviving cancer, took it upon himself to get in touch with the necessary parties to get the false copyright claim cleared and the song was returned to all the platforms, but not without a price.
“People were saying I stole the verse from an old Kendrick song (not true) and all sorts of other libel against me. I was genuinely hurt. I had invested my heart and soul into this release all for it to be stripped away by Top Dawg himself. Top Dawg later confessed to my lawyer (who signed a sworn affidavit) that he personally asked Interscope and UMG to remove the song because he felt ‘disrespected’. I do not believe it was honorable for me to be attacked simply because of mismanagement and lack of judgment on the part of your representatives,” he explains to Kendrick.
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Emile won a small-claims court judgment last October when the court demanded that TDE give him $6,400. However, the label has not done what was asked of them and Emile says UMG has not filled out the appropriate paperwork to close the case.
“Still, your label, through its lawyers, has refused to honor the court’s decision,” Emile says. “They have continued the bullying and intimidation in an attempt to strong-arm me. They have since filed a retraction to stay the execution of the judgment. After the judgment was handed down, I was phoned by your legal team and I was asked to enter into a settlement agreement — of course, I cannot discuss any of these details. The bullying, intimidation and exploitation I have experienced by your team and by your label is not something I expected.”
He insists he means no ill will toward Kendrick and respects his stance as an artist. But he does ask him to do what he can to help right the wrongs presented. Emile emphasizes that this is not an isolated incident, but is a statement about independent art.
“As you can clearly see, the honor and integrity you represent as an artist is not being mirrored by the people who represent you,” he shares. “Never have I spoken ill of you, lashed out at you or attacked you. This is simply because I truly believe we are not enemies or even adversaries. As we both fight oppression, injustice and share our perspectives on the human condition with the world in our respective forms, I will continue to be in solidarity with you. Too often, in hip-hop especially, we devolve into machismo, harmful rhetoric and self-destructive opportunism. As an artist, as a feminist, as a black man, I will not do this. I have been wronged, and misdirected anger toward you would simply compound the wrongness of the situation.
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“But I will appeal to your greater sensibilities, and ask you to honor our original agreement and hold your representatives to account. I can only hope you have this type of influence over these processes.”
Read the entire letter at DJ Booth.
