Prince's estate 'rejects Jay Z's $40 million offer toward late icon's unreleased work'

By Dailymail.com Reporter

Published: 19:25 EST, 13 November 2016 | Updated: 20:09 EST, 13 November 2016

Add Prince's estate to the list of Jay-Z's 99 problems.

The estate of the late When Doves Cry singer in October responded to a $40 million offer from the 46-year-old Brooklyn mogul for the rights to the singer's unreleased songs, TMZ reported Sunday.

In the letter to Jay Z's team, the Batdance singer's estate said they would pass on the deal, as they didn't want 'Roc Nation to exploit any of the intellectual property assets of the Estate.'

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No-go: Jay Z's (left) $40 million offer to Prince's (right) estate for the late singer's unreleased work was rejected

Moving and shaking: Jay-Z, 46, welcomed Prince's sister and her husband to New York City earlier this fall to negotiate a potential deal. Here, the singer was snapped October 6 in the Big Apple

Patriotic: The rapper and wife Beyonce were among the celebs to endorse Hillary Clinton in her presidential bid

Last month, the outlet reported that Jay Z, whose real name is Shawn Corey Carter, flew the Little Red Corvette singer's sister and her husband - Tyka and Maurice Phillips - to his Big Apple home base to make the offer.

A snag in the plan, however, was that Tyka didn't have total say over the right to the songs, as she had to get approval from both the estate trust and Prince's other siblings.

Jay Z was also interested in obtaining rights to stream the music of the Raspberry Beret artist.

Rejected: The estate said it would forbid 'Roc Nation to exploit any of the intellectual property assets of the Estate'

Legend: The enigmatic entertainer rocked out on the guitar in a collaboration with Mary J. Blige (left) in 2012  in Las Vegas

The estate also said that they have not received $750,000 to satisfy the 2015 deal they made with Jay Z to release HitNRun Phase One, which would mark the last album from the seven-time Grammy winner, according to TMZ.

The rap impresario has past sampled pieces of Prince's work in songs such as Excuse Me Miss, a 2002 track he collaborated on with Pharrell using parts of the Walk Don't Walk, a track off the late singer's 1991 album Diamonds and Pearls; and Welcome to the Jungle, a 2011 collaboration with Kanye West that sampled Prince's When We're Dancing Close And Slow off the singer's self-titled 1979 album.

Prince's estate was also battling the streaming service Tidal, the outlet reported, as they said the company did not have the rights to stream 15 of the singer's albums after he died.

Prince, whose full name was Prince Rogers Nelson, who was found dead at 57 on April 21 following a drug overdose at his Minnesota mansion. 

Last hurrah: One of the Pop Life singer's final moments in the spotlight came as he presented The Weeknd with an award at the American Music Awards in November of 2015, less than six months before his death

 

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