Welcome to August, everyone! It’s a new month! But some things don’t change.
The first day of school is getting closer. There’s a lot stuff going on involving Uber. And Kanye West is doing his thing on Twitter.
Oh yeah. West, the rapper/producer/entrepreneur known for wearing fur coats, renting out AT&T Park when he proposed to his now-wife, Kim Kardashian, and telling his followers that he is rich but still needs $53 million so he can “bring more beautiful ideas to the world,” is back at it, and this time, he’s taking on the biggest of the big: Apple.
West must have had some free time over the weekend, because he got to thinking about Tidal, the music-streaming service owned by Beyonce’s Husband (aka Jay Z), and which had West’s most recent album, “The Life of Pablo” as an exclusive for more than a month before any other streaming services, like Apple Music, got their hands on it.
It sure sounds like West wasn’t happy with that situation, because on Saturday, he opened up his Twitter feed and let his feelings fly:
“This Tidal Apple beef is f*****g up the music game.” We here consider SiliconBeat and the Mercury News to still be family publications, so if you’re not sure what West said there, you can read West’s actual tweet here.
I have to say that I wasn’t really aware of a “beef” going on between Tidal and Apple, at least not in the Donald Trump vs. Hillary Clinton version of what a “beef” is, but whatever. West thinks Apple should just go on and buy Tidal, already.
Apple give Jay his check for Tidal now and stop trying to act like you Steve.
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) July 30, 2016
Now, West’s grammar aside, I’m pretty sure that Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook isn’t acting like Steve…assuming West is talking about the late Steve Jobs. For one thing, when Jobs led Apple, and the company made an acquisition, it never spent anything even remotely close to the $3 billion that the Cook-led Apple spent to acquire Beats Music and Beats Electronics in 2014. But, again, whatever. West is a man with opinions, and his 24.7 million Twitter followers need to know that he is fighting for them! And most of all, he’s fighting for the children, too!
“F*** all this d*** swinging contest,” wrote West in another tweet. “We all gon be dead in 100 Years (his capitalization). Let the kids have the music.” (Again, if you want to read the unedited tweet, you can see it here.)
Yes, we all may be dead and gone a century from now. But West is thinking about the future (obviously, right?) and what he can do to make it a better place. And he thinks he, and a few others, are just what is needed to help push Apple toward cutting a check big enough to get Beyonce’s Husband to sell Tidal.
I need Tim Cook Jay Z Dez Jimmy Larry me and Drake Scooter on the phone or in a room this week!!!
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) July 30, 2016
For the record, this Apple-Tidal summit proposed by West would include:
- Tim Cook, CEO, Apple
- Beyonce’s Husband (aka Jay Z)
- Some guy named Dez, which could be Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant, for all we know.
- Jimmy, meaning Jimmy Iovine, one of the Beats founders who sold his company to Apple.
- Larry, who is likely Larry Jackson, an executive with Apple Music.
- Me, meaning West himself.
- Drake, Canadian hip-hop musician, singer and fan of the Toronto Raptors, who is close to Apple Music.
- Scooter, who is probably music executive Scott Samuel “Scooter” Braun.
Apple buying Tidal may not be as far-fetched as it might sound. Apple just reported $5.98 billion quarterly revenue from its “services” that include Apple Music. And some analysts have recently said Apple may be looking at Tidal because it could buy the company at a relatively inexpensive price.
Whatever the case may be, I say the thought of a business meeting involving West and Cook is something that has to happen, if for nothing else but the unintentional comedy that is possible, and how it could lead to a new method of negotiation that would be studied at business schools for ages.
And while they’re at it, maybe Cook could also broker peace between West and Taylor Swift?
Photo: Kanye West accepts the video vanguard award at the MTV Video Music Awards at the Microsoft Theater in 2015. (Matt Sayles/Invision/AP)
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