An ‘808s & Heartbreak’ Collaborator Has A Plan For Her Royalties After Kanye West’s ‘White Lives Matter’ Controversy

Very few people are amused by Kanye West’s “White Lives Matter” stunt, but a former collaborator of his is wanting to do their best to counter the damage he has done. Singer and songwriter Esthero — who worked with Ye on his fourth studio album, 808s & Heartbreak — has expressed desire to donate her royalties to Black Lives Matter, an organization that West publicly called a “scam.”

Esthero — who co-wrote “Love Lockdown,” “Street Lights,” and “RoboCop” — took to Twitter yesterday amid the backlash following Ye’s “White Lives Matter” shirt, along with his attack on Vogue editor Gabriella Karefa-Johnson.

“I would like to donate my portion of the publishing from the 808s and Heartbreak album to @BLMLA [Black Lives Matter Los Angeles],” Esthero said in a tweet. “Please get at me so we can start the process. #blacklivesmatter.”

She followed up the initial tweet shortly after, encouraging other Ye collaborators to donate as well

“Let me be crystal clear where I stand on this,” she said, “I invite the other co-writers to do the same.”

Esthero has long been vocal about her disdain toward Ye’s pro-Trump stance.

Back in 2020, she tweeted, “Anyone else miss the ‘George Bush doesn’t care about black people’ Kanye,” referring to his infamous exclamation on live TV in 2005 during a telethon benefiting victims of Hurricane Katrina.

At the time of writing, Esthero had not yet updated her followers as to whether or not the process had begun, nor if other co-writers had expressed if they were donating to Black Lives Matter.