Travis Scott released his The Weekend collaboration “Wake Up” on his third studio record, Astroworld. The rapper followed-up the song with an eye-catching video in July of 2019 and, according to recent reports, it looks like Scott’s label still owes a large sum of money for the visual.
Epic Records is reportedly in debt $187,000 to the company Smuggler for their work on Scott’s “Wake Up” video. According to a report from HotNewHipHip, Smuggler recently filed a lawsuit against the label in order to make them pay up. Apparently, the entire video cost the label $749,000 but Epic tried to negotiate the price down to an even $600,000, eventually conceding after they paid Smuggler a first installment of $561,766.
However, over a year has passed and Smuggler is still waiting for the second installment to arrive from Epic — and the label has their excuses. When pressed for the rest of the cash, Epic label executives apparently said it’s missing because they “don’t like” the video. Epic reportedly claims the video was missing a few effects they were hoping for and even tried to scrap the initial contract months after the video had already debuted.
Watching the visual, it’s clear why the shoot racked up such a pricey bill. Not only was “Wake Up” directed by Jonah Hill, but its also set in an opulent mansion filled and featured a large number of extras.
Watch Scott’s “Wake Up” video in question above.