Ever since Prince's untimely death this year, there has been an ongoing battle among several different parties attempting to obtain the rights to the Purple Rain musician's unreleased music. Jay Z was one of those parties looking to buy the Minnesota native's treasure trove of tracks, putting in a significant offer after sitting down with Prince's sister Tyka earlier this year. But things aren't going to be going Hov's way this time around, and he may be looking at some legal action from Prince's estate as well.
Earlier this year, Jay Z put in a $40 million offer to purchase Prince's unreleased music. He made the offer after flying out Prince's sister and her husband, Tyka and Maurice Phillips, to New York. At the meeting, he reportedly was also looking to purchase rights to stream the music of 'His Purpleness' on his own Tidal service. Unfortunately for Hov, Prince's estate responded to his offer this past weekend, rejecting the potential power play for the Brooklyn wordsmith.
(Theo Wargo/Getty Images for TIDAL)
Prince's estate sent a letter to Jay Z's team to reject to the offer. In the letter, they said that they are passing on the deal because they didn't want "Roc Nation to exploit any of the intellectual property assets of the Estate." The estate has decided to hand over the rights to the music to Universal Music Publishing Group.
That's not the only issue that Prince's estate has with the 46-year-old rapper. According to them, they have a bone to pick with Hov as it pertains to the streaming of Prince's music on Tidal shortly after the singer's death in April. Shortly after Prince died, Tidal made 15 of Prince's albums available for streaming on Tidal. But according to the "1999" singer's estate, Hov was not authorized to make those albums available. As a result, the estate is looking to get Tidal to pay for their alleged unauthorized usage, though the exact amount they're looking for has yet to be revealed.
Hov's got "99 Problems" and a lawsuit may be one.
