Angel Haze’s album release brought forward following leak controversy

Rapper Angel Haze has landed an official end-of-year release for her much-delayed debut album after leaking the whole project online on Wednesday (18Dec13) to spite her record bosses. The rising hip-hop star had originally been due to unveil Dirty Gold in January (13), but executives at Island/Republic Records continually pushed back the project, before setting a March, 2014 release.
However, Haze had become so frustrated with the hold-ups, she decided to defy her representatives and streamed the disc in its entirety on music website SoundCloud.com on Wednesday. She then shared a link with fans on Twitter.com and stated, “Since they don’t want to put it out this year, I will. Here’s the album. Here is Dirty Gold. I hope you enjoy it.”
The songs were pulled from SoundCloud hours later, and it appears Haze’s daring move has helped her get her own way with label bosses, who have since agreed to release the album later this month (Dec13).
Returning to Twitter on Wednesday night to share the good news with devotees, Haze wrote, “Behind every rebel is a f**king reason. Just want to say thank you guys for your support today. Thanks to those who heard the album and f**ked with (liked) it. Thanks to everyone who stood up for me.
“My labels didn’t think that I would do it, but I did. It’s hard to put at risk everything I’ve spent this year working on but I had to for both me and you guys. No one should ever be afforded the opportunity to f**k with your dreams. REGARDLESS OF WHO THEY ARE. They do not own you or your faith or your future and because of what you guys helped me show them.
“My labels have agreed to release Dirty Gold December 30th. UK & US. (Rest of the world, we are coming for you as well). Thank you all. Night”.