Kodak Black stans Atlantic Records in a major break away from artistes like NBA YoungBoy and Meek Mill who have spoken out against the label.
You never know what is going on behind a label’s closed doors. It always seems that some artists are in total support of how a label manages its business, while others describe being sidelined and ultimately having their career thrashed.
Point and case, just after Kodak Black showed some serious support for his fellow label mate Ed Sheeran with an elaborate gift of an 1800 Block chain, he took to Twitter earlier this week, February 28, to encourage other artists to sign to Atlantic Records. An indicator that he is enjoying his time with the label.
This is in stark contrast to recent claims by other well-known rappers like Meek Mill and NBA YoungBoy. Both artists have accused Atlantic Records of negatively affecting their careers, and the two of them have made their feelings very much known using social media.
Sign To @AtlanticRecords
— Kodak Black (@KodakBlack1k) February 28, 2022
Atlantic Records ?? @AtlanticRecords
— Kodak Black (@KodakBlack1k) February 28, 2022
Back in January, as an example, YoungBoy Never Broke Again urged artistes not to sign to Atlantic Record. “Why blackball me I’m the good guy,” he wrote. “I was going #1 two weeks straight with a mixtape, so they took it down off the charts. I don’t give a f***k you still can’t stop me don’t sign to Atlantic if you a artist they not gone support you especially if you live a certain way.”
Meek Mill has often made claims against the label as well. The Philly rapper accused Atlantic Records of robbing him of earnings from Roddy Ricch signing. According to his claim, which he made public at the start of February, “So look I made Atlantic records 100’s of millions and let them rape me out out Roddy a artist they came to me about in jail. They still saying I can’t drop music until 9 months after my last album got blackballed.”
At the end of the day, an artist will most times pick the company they are comfortable with or who they believe will be the most profitable to them. In Kodak’s case, it seems there is another reason he may have decided to promote this particular label. It seems he’s chosen sides in a simmering beef between NBA YoungBoy and Lil Durk. There is suspicion that this is why he is publicly praising the label.
The only real evidence of this stems from the fact that the only feature that Kodak had on his latest album Back For Everything was Lil Durk. Some sharp hip-hop fans believe that it is all being set up for a major beef between the two artists, with Kodak already saying what side of the war he is on.
This is all in theory, however, as Kodak has stated that he has no part in any ongoing or upcoming beef. He made this point clear in October 2021, when he appeared on DJ Akademiks’ Off the Record podcast last October. He even went on to say that he likes both artists’ music.
“Both of them boys make great music. NBA YoungBoy, he like a lil bruh. Durk’s great, too, he makes great music. As long as a n-gga don’t come find me and make me feel like I gotta pick no sides or no crazy sh*t, I ain’t saying nothin’. It’s music at the end of the day,” he said at the time.
Meanwhile, as recent as a week ago, YoungBoy and Durk traded blows after Durk track, “AHHH HA,” seemed to be aimed at YoungBoy and his ex-girlfriend. Even if it wasn’t, YoungBoy was not amused and responded by dropping a diss track of his own, called “I Hate YoungBoy.” He held back no punches, and everyone knew that the song was aimed at Durk, his fiancée India, Gucci Mane, and King Von, to name a few.
In one verse, he says: “Quando got no filter, and he say that, they gon’ f*ck with ‘em/ Clean up on aisle O, youngin let that chop blow/ Ayy, my brother let that stick blow, n***a know that’s my smoke/ He called me a b##ch, that’s India, that be your ho.”
Youngboy is definitely ready for war, and it looks like it won’t take much for Durk to respond, but we still don’t know where Kodak Black stands in this one.
