Death Grips Tracks Yanked From YouTube Amid Continuing Label Squabble

4:54 PM PST 2/27/2013 by Colin Stutz

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The controversial rap group raised the ire of Sony's Epic Records in November when it leaked its own album.

Jonny Magowan

Stefan "MC Ride" Burnett of Death Grips

Epic Records dropped Death Grips back in November after the hardcore punk-rap outfit leaked its own album, but that apparently wasn't the end of things.

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Now, seemingly out of the blue, Epic's parent company, Sony Music Entertainment, has removed Death Grips' album tracks from YouTube, including songs from their contentious most recent release NO LOVE DEEP WEB and early 2012's The Money Store. Pitchfork reports that all of the tracks from both albums had been available to stream but most have been deleted "due to a copyright claim."

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The albums also have been removed from the nonprofit Internet library Archive.org. Death Grips' self-released first album, 2011's Exmilitary, is still on both sites.

It looks as if the feud with Epic Records, run by chairman L.A. Reid, has helped increase the band's fan base, which now includes Portlandia and Saturday Night Live star Fred Armisen. Watch him tell kitchen queen Rachael Ray all about his latest obsession in the video below:

Twitter: @THRMusic