Reason once contemplated returning to his regular 9-5 despite having a record deal with Top Dawg Entertainment at the time.
In an interview with Audiomack co-founder Brian Zisook, the now-former TDE signee opened up about his frustrations with the label and why he wanted to walk away.
“I contemplated giving up music for a year and a half. I was updating my resume, ready to walk away,” he said. “At the time, it was a fair deal for a new artist with no name. But the length of the contract was tough [for me].”
Zisook explained that Reason’s deal included a multi-album product commitment as well as a 50/50 revenue split post-recoupment.
“I came in with an album ready to drop. It still took over a year to [release]. That’s when I realized the delays weren’t just about development—it was [how] the label operated,” Reason added. “I couldn’t drop music when I wanted. I couldn’t feed my fans. I even updated my resume to go back to my old job [as a tech recruiter].”
Eventually, he left TDE after seven years with the label in 2024. He has since partnered with a distributor to drop his new music in a one-album deal where he has full ownership of his masters.
“Independence let me fall back in love with music,” he said. “Now, I own my work … and I have the freedom to move how I want.”
He also chose not to take an advance.
“I didn’t want to be in that position again. Now, I see royalties immediately instead of waiting to recoup debt.”
Last April, as the feud between Drake and his former TDE labelmate Kendrick Lamar began to ignite, Reason praised Drizzy’s diss song “Push Ups” while also appearing to take digs at his label.
In an interview with Bootleg Kev earlier this week, the Carson, California rapper revealed his surprise support of the 6 God was a ploy to leave TDE.
“The only fans I really lost were fans that I shot myself in the foot in, but I had to do that to get out of the label deal,” he said. “When the Dot and Drake beef started, I felt like Top [Dawg] and them were kinda, like, dragging their feet a little bit. I don’t think purposely, I just think they had a lot of shit going on.
“And I knew that if I kinda sparked a fire a little bit that they would be like, ‘We gotta separate from this.’ So I started tweeting shit on the side of Drake purposely. There are fans that hate me for that.”
Reason added that after he praised “Push Ups,” he secured his release from TDE within a month, avoiding a drawn-out departure that could’ve otherwise lasted years.
ummm…good luck👌
Who? Be honest this label is mostly nobodies outside Black Hippy now all of a sudden they’re popping off? Now all they have is all gay and female artists since Kendrick left and Schoolboy Q isn’t popping anymore. They’re not even really west coast since their biggest rapper is a plant from Florida allegedly.
Ozos – Gay Drake fan who hates the west coast. Needs to get over her feelings.
Dude, any criticism of tde doesn’t have to be a Drake fan. Yall are super annoying with that BS. It’s true that TDE is dead. Black hippy is dead. Kendrick and SZA are the only ones moving records. Absoul sadly peaked with Control System, which was an amazing album. Q peaked with Oxymoron, but kept at that peak for Blank Face and that other album (crash talk and blueface or whatever kind of suck). Jay Rock? Follow me home was his best work, and he’s gotten worse on each release, now sounding more like radio rappers. Kendrick sounds horrible this days. I absolutely loved all these dudes 15 years ago, back when they were doing “zip that chop that”, “turn me up”, “rolling stones”. I’m not a Drake fan or a hater. In fact, I’ve always been a Drake hater. So quit dick riding and understand the criticism is legit, nit out of hate.
Jay – wasted an entire paragraph that nobody is gonna read. Eats baby dicks.
Looks like I hurt some feelings. I’m sorry that my critism of your idol implores you to hurl insults to strangers online. But I apologize for hurting your feelings. I’ll refrain from criticizing the men you so deeply idolize. And lastly, I’ll try and keep it shorter than previous comments… I know you dumb nigg@z have 2nd grade reading comprehension, so this will take you 3 minutes to read.
Jay – Gay man wasted time again writing a paragraph that people aren’t gonna read (dumbass). Started crying over comments made to somebody that didn’t involve him, and had to get in a word like a female. Is gonna come back to have the last word like a girl after reading this, bitch.
Should’ve sign with Ovo. He would’ve been treated much better and be a star making way more money than he would at TDE. Even Bendrick left that bum ass label.
Ovo – Sucks dicks for a living
Jay Rock follow me home was on strange, that’s were TDE got their playbook