Epic Records Drops Controversial Rap Group Death Grips

4:09 PM PDT 11/1/2012 by Colin Stutz

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Says the Sony-owned label in a statement addressing the hardcore rappers: "When marketing and publicity stunts trump the actual music, we must remind ourselves of our core values."

Jonny Magowan

Following a month of public turbulence, Epic Records has announced it’s "in the process" of dropping the hardcore rap duo Death Grips from its roster.

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The news comes following the band's surprise leak of its own sophomore album, No Love Deep Web, a month ago. Controversy surrounding the album is not limited to the music -- the band opted for a picture of a penis as the cover art, and yesterday, in a post shared on the band's Facebook page titled, "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA NOW F--- OFF," published what are believed to be private emails from Epic's senior vice president of business affairs and legal to their management.

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That correspondence said the band had breached the Sony Music-owned company's contract agreements, infringed on the label's copyright rights, and "without provocation made false and disparaging statements." It also asked that Death Grips immediately pull No Love Deep Web from all websites and provide the masters to Epic, which Epic owns, continuing, "This album will not count towards the Recording Commitment. As I'm sure you understand, Epic will not pay for an album that thousands of people have already downloaded."

So, perhaps, this should come as no surprise.

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Epic issued the following statement today: "Epic Records is a music first company that breaks new artists. That is our mission and our mandate. Unfortunately, when marketing and publicity stunts trump the actual music, we must remind ourselves of our core values. To that end, effective immediately, we are working to dissolve our relationship with Death Grips. We wish them well."

The group is currently on a European tour with stateside dates scheduled soon as well.

Twitter: @THRMusic