So who eats all that money when Dre doesn't release an album like King T?

[TraceOneInfinite]

Just wondered how Dre could fuck around with King T in the studio for 2 years, film a music video, place ads in the Source, have a bangin album ready to go—and then just say fuck it??

I mean, Dre has done this a lot over his career.  Who eats all that fuckin money?  Studio times, advertisements, wasted record deals, contracts, other associated people like producers, or label execs like Ben Baller who put in time for those albums.... Does Dre just eat all that money?  King T ends up broke with nothing to show for all his hard work?  Do they put King T in debt, does he owe all that money from his contract?   Advances, etc?    Does Interscope eat the money?

...was rolling around bumping Thy Kingdom Come tonight, and it just got me thinking.  Always wondered that shit.

[⠀]

Tax write off.

[JonnyTanna]

If they can cancel big budget video game projects than I'm sure king teela's album ain't nothing to a boss. Funny though because that was supposed to drop before eminen. So maybe he's the reason? Still would have been nice if it came out officially. Dre did the same with them wack detox videos (I need a doctor)

[TraceOneInfinite]

Funny though because that was supposed to drop before eminen. So maybe he's the reason?

I've heard that before, but how is that even a factor?  What the hell would Eminem's Slim Shady LP being released in 1999 have to do with King T's album not being released in the summer of 98?  

"UUUhhhh we can't release King T, because we are going to release Eminem 8 months from now"... that doesn't even make sense.

...I mean, I could understand if both of them were signed at the same time, and Dre decided to work with Em instead, so they invested all their time and energy into Eminem.  But, King T's album had long been finished, they'd already invested all the time, money, had the video for the lead single doing the rounds on BET—and somewhere around that time Em came into the picture.  So, just go ahead with the King T release and then focus on Em, simple enough.

The real reason that Dre didn't release King T—is because since NWA blew up Dre had really set a standard, and he never wanted to release anything that would do less than platinum.   people like Ben Baller may argue, "then why did he release Truth Hurts?"  Well, if ya'll remember that single that Quik and Rakim did with her was blowing the fuck up on radio and video—so maybe Dre thought that that single was a hit that could propel her to platinum.

[Hack Wilson - real]

clearly Dre didn't care for King T that much

[CORREA]

King T is boring and isnt marketable dre made the right choice

[doggfather]

King T is boring and isnt marketable dre made the right choice

Lol...

[shoo]

Funny though because that was supposed to drop before eminen. So maybe he's the reason?

I've heard that before, but how is that even a factor?  What the hell would Eminem's Slim Shady LP being released in 1999 have to do with King T's album not being released in the summer of 98?  

"UUUhhhh we can't release King T, because we are going to release Eminem 8 months from now"... that doesn't even make sense.

...I mean, I could understand if both of them were signed at the same time, and Dre decided to work with Em instead, so they invested all their time and energy into Eminem.  But, King T's album had long been finished, they'd already invested all the time, money, had the video for the lead single doing the rounds on BET—and somewhere around that time Em came into the picture.  So, just go ahead with the King T release and then focus on Em, simple enough.

The real reason that Dre didn't release King T—is because since NWA blew up Dre had really set a standard, and he never wanted to release anything that would do less than platinum.   people like Ben Baller may argue, "then why did he release Truth Hurts?"  Well, if ya'll remember that single that Quik and Rakim did with her was blowing the fuck up on radio and video—so maybe Dre thought that that single was a hit that could propel her to platinum.

Of course that makes sense. Eminem was signed to aftermath in 1998. Probably they didn't have enough budget to release King T album and work on Em's album. They had to go with one of them and decided that Em has more potential to make big money for them (and we know they were right).
At this level music has almost nothing to do with art. It's a business. And if you want to make money with your business you need to take risk. I guess that was the risk they took back then - to go with eminem and leave King T project even though they already spent a lot of cash on it. Probably they knew that at the end of the day they will make more profit with such move.
Of course this is just a guesswork but it really makes sense to me.

And that might also be an answer to your initial question. I guess King T ate well of his Aftermath contract. I don't think he wasn't paid for it. And speaking of Aftermath/Dre... every investment is a risk. They invested money on King T but decided to go with something else to maximize the profit.

Anybody who runs his own serious business shouldn't be amazed with such move.

[TraceOneInfinite]

Of course that makes sense. Eminem was signed to aftermath in 1998. Probably they didn't have enough budget to release King T album and work on Em's album. They had to go with one of them and decided that Em has more potential to make big money for them (and we know they were right).
At this level music has almost nothing to do with art. It's a business. And if you want to make money with your business you need to take risk. I guess that was the risk they took back then - to go with eminem and leave King T project even though they already spent a lot of cash on it. Probably they knew that at the end of the day they will make more profit with such move.
Of course this is just a guesswork but it really makes sense to me.

And that might also be an answer to your initial question. I guess King T ate well of his Aftermath contract. I don't think he wasn't paid for it. And speaking of Aftermath/Dre... every investment is a risk. They invested money on King T but decided to go with something else to maximize the profit.

Anybody who runs his own serious business shouldn't be amazed with such move.

The King T money was already spent.  They'd already paid for the albums recording and mastering, and paid for the video, and paid for the advertisements.  The only thing left was to ship the album to stores... and King T may not have gone platinum, but he would've done 300,000 minimum.  So all they had to do was ship out 300,000 cd's and after 6 months or so it would've reached 300,000 and they would've earned all their money back they'd spent on the project and even turned some profit.

Jermaine Dupri always said as long as you sell 300,000 copies you made a profit, but anything less than that you ran a risk.   If Aftermath Presents and the Firm could sell 2X platinum then Dre's fan base was still large enough to push a very solid King T record to 300,000.

...but 300,000 is being modest—I think he would've gone gold after one year.   

[johnnie360]

Even though the aftermath comp and the firm sold so much, that was a time in Dre musical history that hurt him. Both of those albums sold on hype alone. Went the dust settled the firm did not live up to the expectations, and the aftermath comp was borderline trash. I remember those days well. Not until 2001 was released did Dre have a resurgence. I think King T would have been a big risk at the time is was slated to be released. I think after 2001, the Marshell Mathers LP, and the Up In Smoke Tour, Thy Kingdom come would have drug the label back down in a certain way. Not saying the album was bad, because its not, but I dont think it would have caught on to the general consumer who helped propel 2001 and MMLP to such huge numbers.

[Rendezvous LLC.]

King T.. I know the name well. Thy Kingdom Come was a good album. I genuinely liked it. My brother paid King T $500 for a 16 bar verse. After paying the money, and receving numerous emails, text messages, and a video text, King T dragged on recording this 16 bar verse for 1 year!

When I found out about it, I lost all respect for this King-T dude as a rapper, let alone a human being (vice versa). King-T is always online posting bible quotes and memes about people being scandalous but he's a sheister.
He mentioned in an interview that he left Dr. Dre's aftermath cause he didnt want to wait and dre said his project wasnt ready. He also states how hes been jerked by many people in the game, but does it to others.