Kanye West has made a lot of money throughout his controversial but illustrious music career. His run through the 2010s and the 2000s were truly special. Millions of records were sold and dozens of awards and nominations were earned. However, Ye hasn't been making all of the money he could from one of his earliest hits.
In the grand scheme of things, this doesn't mean affect the Chicago native all that much. Nonetheless, it's still shocking to know that he's never received a single dollar from publishing rights for "Through The Wire." That's because producing and songwriting icon, David Foster, revealed in an interview with the And The Writer Is podcast that he's technically got zero writing credits on the song.
While Kanye did of course pen and produce the entirety of the track, Spotify shows that his name is nowhere to be found under that "Written by" category. It only includes Foster, Tom Keane, and Cynthia Weil. They are the group behind Chaka Khan's 1984 hit "Through the Fire," which is sampled all throughout "Through The Wire." The reason behind it is quite shocking as Foster says that Kanye wanted "50 percent" of the writing.
He says he "would have given it to him," but Cynthia Weil wouldn't budge. "[She] was like, 'F*ck that. No, he gets nothing.' So, he got nothing. We still remain the 100 percent writers."
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Even with that being the case, Ye's taken plenty of risks throughout the years to deliver the music he wants to put out. It's defined his mark on the industry and it's something that he will always be synonymous with.
Speaking of rolling the dice, Kanye is releasing Bully next week, presumably. Even though he's been making strides to fix his reputation, it's going to be interesting to see what a project from him in 2026 will do performance wise. It's one of the most pre-saved records on Spotify right now thanks to his unwavering legion of fans. But the question lies with the unbiased listeners. The 13-track project is slated to drop on Friday, January 30, with seemingly no features in sight.
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