Kelela and AraabMuzik Accuse A&R Guy of Leaking Their Music

Kelela photo by James Emmerman, AraabMuzik photo by Leigh Ann Hines

On Friday, AraabMuzik and Kelela's song "Final Hour"—a track from AraabMuzik's forthcoming Dream World LP—was sent out by Gustavo Guerra of Distrolord (the marketing/distribution team who represent AraabMuzik). Today, both Kelela and AraabMuzik distanced themselves from the song and Guerra.

Kelela tweeted that she was unaware that the song would appear on the record, claiming that it was an unfinished demo.

SO @araabMUZIK's a&r @Distrolord put out a song I NEVER FINISHED. The demo is 2 YEARS OLD and I never knew it was gonna be on his record!!!

— Kelela (@kelelam) October 25, 2015

Only reason why you think you can be so brazen and get away with it is cuz I'm a woman @Distrolord. @araabMUZIK you need a new a&r

— Kelela (@kelelam) October 25, 2015

If you were gonna blatantly take the song, you coulda at least first gotten my best work!!! You dumb...and sad and cheap @Distrolord

— Kelela (@kelelam) October 25, 2015

AraabMuzik went on to accuse Guerra of leaking the song and claimed that Dream World wouldn't be released at all. (The album was originally slated for a June release, but was further postponed.)

1st of all i would like to address this Final Hour song situation. It was leaked by @distrolord i never approved this song by @kelelam

— araabMUZIK (@araabMUZIK) October 25, 2015

Lastly Dream World wont be released since im recording and working on brand new music for the project. New King EP drops nov 5!!! #MVP

— araabMUZIK (@araabMUZIK) October 25, 2015

Sure was! RT @BevanSSBM: @araabMUZIK @Distrolord @kelelam was distrolord the one who leaked the fake Electronic Dream 2?

— araabMUZIK (@araabMUZIK) October 25, 2015

Guerra spoke to Pitchfork over the phone, addressing both artists' accusations and offering an update on the status of Dream World. He said that the project was well-documented in management emails, texts, press releases, bank statements, and more.

I met Kelela back at the CMJ showcase. She wanted to work with us. She gave me her email, I said "great." I sent her over some tracks. I said, "We're working on an album, we want you for our project." She said, "Great, send me over the beats." She selected the track, which is "Final Hour". She sent me over a copy of the song and was like, "Here you go." I was like, "Yo, this is dope. I respect this. This is the song, let's use this for our project." She was like, "Cool." She was psyched about it.

At the time, she wasn't really known. Araab, he was at that moment. Down the line, she kept hitting me like, "Yo, what's up, we should get up and mix this record." I'm like, "Great, you should come to In Ya Ear Studios and we can work on the record there." So cool, she came through, we start mixing the record, and she left.

Her management reached out to me and they were like, "Yo, we want to use this for our upcoming EP." Araab was busy at that current time, so like I said, we wanted to use this track for our project, we go, "We can put it on your project as well for a future release." 

When asked about Kelela's claim that her contribution was an unfinished demo, he said, "The song was done. She asked me to send her Araab's stems so she could mix it. I said, 'I'm getting it done. We're gonna get this song done.'"

Guerra also refuted Kelela's accusations of sexism. "Listen," he said, "I was brought up by four women. I've got three sisters and a mother, so I don't understand where this 'woman' thing came from. I put out a song. That's what I do. This is a project that I'm working on—that I've been working on for a long time—and I put out the song."

As for AraabMuzik's reaction, he said he didn't understand where it was coming from. "Maybe he woke up to see some angry tweets at him and he reacted," he said. "AraabMuzik's my brother at the end of the day." When asked about the status of Dream World, he responded, "Is Dream World gonna come out? Yeah, it's gonna come out."

Guerra said that he hadn't received any phone calls about this. "I don't know why everyone is bad mouthing. Things can be done in private." He also wondered why Kelela didn't contact him when the press release announcing her involvement was sent out in April.

via Evan Minsker