Late last night the internet caught wind of a brand new Zayn Malik track, a track which stepped about as far left from his One Direction days as is possible. Not only was it a cover of Rae Sremmurd’s anthemic hit “No Type”, it also featured bars from none other than Mic Righteous who initially posted the song onto his SoundCloud page.
However, things have got a little heated since the initial release, with various versions of the track popping up online and being wiped off again.
Naughty Boy, who has been working closely with Zayn, tweeted his version as to why the song leaked;
https://twitter.com/NaughtyBoyMusic/status/610559880823504896
However, Mic has a slightly different view on things and let off a slew of tweets;
https://twitter.com/MicRighteous/status/610561348779569152
https://twitter.com/MicRighteous/status/610562385640820737
https://twitter.com/MicRighteous/status/610577303442190336
https://twitter.com/MicRighteous/status/610577469490466816
https://twitter.com/MicRighteous/status/610578126834397185
https://twitter.com/MicRighteous/status/610578216026288129
https://twitter.com/MicRighteous/status/610578232191156224
Naughty Boy hit back with a response, which has since been deleted. Mic retaliated and claimed that Naughty Boy is planning to release a version of the track with Krept & Konan replacing him.
https://twitter.com/MicRighteous/status/610585386679668736
Mic Righteous also took to his official Facebook account to make the following statements,
“Mental my own publisher gets my music removed from my souncloud lol, thats why i lost respect for them. Fuck stepping on egg shells cos i wanna keep the label happy.. I ain’t signed i can do me.. It just gets deep when they gotta lie like yutes to cover tracks.. I signed a deal with sony atv yrs ago and rejected a production deal off them around the same time cos of this exact reason. Zayn wants the tune out, he ask me to be on the song, shah (naughtyboy) told me that his label wont let him release any music for the next two yrs.. So you know what i did? I did it for him, for you. And at the end of the day they cant say no to me, i work for the people not the industry.”
This was followed up by another statement today, again on Facebook, which claims Mic has unreleased collaborations with Nas, Jay Electronica and Emeli Sande which are being held by record labels.
“Tbh I got songs with Zayn, i got songs with Emeli Sande, Jay Electronica, Nas, (the list goes on) the reason i never released it is cos i was waiting for a deal.
Waited 18 months before i said fuck this..
Iv held back on so much music, cos I was afraid of burning bridges with labels because getting signed was a option for me then, thats why i haven’t released music for the last 18 months.
Now as soon as majors are involved (whether ur in or out of a deal) it all becomes long, you end up waiting and waiting for something that may never happen.
I got fed up of waiting And took matters into my own hands regardless of repercussions, leaking that song with Zayn was a way for me to set the fact that I’m doing this independently in stone.
The fact naughtyboy straight up acted like he never knew me, and said i stole the song from a hard drive in his studio (when me, him and Zayn sat there and recorded it together) made it clear to me these fame hungry fatties only wanna be around you if you hot.
Thats why he signed my publishing to naughtywords© in the first place, cos i done a sbtv freestyle in 2010 and blew shit up.
I just thank the most high that I never took the production deal he offered me after that. I knew then that i was always gona have to choose do i sign or not, i chose now, and i followed my heart.
No type was to prove the tables can turn over night, so carful who u step on to get to the top.
Now i feel a sense of relief as i am able to do my own thing, i got a macbook full of so much good music its run out of space, and I’m ready for anything.
Skeptics will get whats coming to them, without them and without the belief and support of my avid listeners i wont be able to pull this off.
Love.”
Mic then took the time to announce a new single coming today as he “knew this day would come”. Clearly this situation isn’t over yet between the two artists and beyond. Let’s just hope some good music comes out because of it.
Words: Alex Griffin