The name Lyor Cohen carries weight in the industry. The curriculum vitae speaks for itself, boasting years of industry credentials, a stint as the head of 300 Entertainment, and a current position as YouTube's Global Head Of Music. Naturally, he's managed to rub elbows with some of the game's heavy hitters. One such moment arrived during a meeting with Kanye West; one thing led to another, and soon his mug was inches away from a "Make America Great Again" hat. The photo op soon ruffled the feathers of damn near every Twitter user with an opinion, and that's all of them.
Speaking with Pitchfork, Cohen cleared the air about his meeting with Kanye, opting to distance himself from Yeezy's political alignment. “I don’t love his politics but I was really impressed with the music," says Cohen, referring to some of Ye's unreleased material. "I think he’s doing himself a disservice by not leading with the music.” On that note, Cohen promises that whatever Kanye has in the stash is nothing short of "amazing."
He also goes on to addresses Migos' declarations against 300 Entertainment, which they deemed the "biggest hurdle" of their careers. Cohen attempted to explain his perspective, bringing up their final album on 300, the ubiquitous Culture. "“Culture was a huge success, right? Oftentimes artists get upset with labels but I think part of being a label is being truthful," he explains. “Oftentimes, record companies have to make unpopular decisions but the spirit of that is intended for the artist’s benefit and the consumer’s benefit as well. I believe Culture was a classic. It was very tightly constructed—much more tightly constructed than Culture II was.” Shots fired?
For more from Cohen, peep the original interview here.