Rapper YCee reveals he has never received royalties despite having over 100M streams

• YCee reveals that he never received any royalties from his hit songs.

• The rapper added that his former label, Tinny Entertainment, claimed it was yet to recoup.

• YCee is back with a new album after a hiatus from the music scene.

During a recent appearance on the Afropolitan Podcast, YCee mentioned that he was yet to get paid from any of his songs despite racking in over 100 million plus streams. According to YCee, this is because of the contract he signed with his previous label, Tinny Entertainment, with whom he had a 70/30 split.

The rapper revealed that the label claimed to have not recoup their invesment in him hence the reason he has never received a royalty cheque.

"The mega hits and 100 of millions of streams that I have had, I didn't get any money off them. I was signed to Tiny Entertainment. I had a recording contract and it was a 70/30 split. It was a situation where I wasn't been remited off the earning because at the time, my previous employer felt he hasn't recouped what he invested," YCee shared.

The rapper shared that at the time when he was still signed to his Tinny Entertainment, his songs were blowing up and he was getting endorsement deals and travelling the world and everything looks good from the outside but the financial situation wasn't making much sense within.

"At that time, the songs were going crazy, endorsements, and I was travelling the world, and it was looking good from the outside looking in, but it wasn't making sense to me in other areas. So I didn't make any money off my streams," he added on how the relationship with his previous label didn't work out.

The news have come as a shock for some fans who are suprised to learn the rapper never made any money off his hit records that rocketed him to stardom.

YCee broke into the Nigerian mainstream in 2015 with his smash hit record 'Jagaban', which he followed up with a remix featuring Nigerian hip hop icon Olamide Baddo. The rapper ascended to stardom with a successive release of hits, including the mega hits 'Omo Alhaji' and 'Juice' featuring Maleek Berry.

After parting ways with Tinny Entertainment, YCee continued to make music as he attempted to keep up with a fast changing music industry that was being impacted by digital streaming and the rise in the global exportation of Afrobeats.

YCee would go on a hiatus and dissapear from the public eyes. Speaking on his time away from the limelight, the rapper shared that he was briefly in and out of hospitals in 2020 after he was diagnosed with a mental health challenge.

The rapper recently returned to the music scene with a new album titled 'Out of Sight -Out of Mind - Volume 1,' a double sided 14 track project where he showed his range as rapper and singer.

You can watch YCee's full interview on the Afropolitan Podcast below.