Andrew Dawson

Kanye West longtime engineer Andrew Dawson is promising to donate his royalties for good, following West’s recent espousal of hate speech.
In an Instagram post Tuesday (Oct. 25), Dawson pledged to make donations from his royalties to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), as well as Jewish and Civil Rights organizations.

“I have a resume I am proud of that represents decades of supporting the voices, visions, and creativity of talented artists,” Dawson wrote. “However, recent events compel me to be a supporter of more important voices at this time.”

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According to Dawson’s post, he has already made two donations.

While Dawson did not name West as the specific reason for the donations, the organization’s mentioned all support groups that West has recently targeted with hate speech. In recent weeks, West has worn a shirt that read “White Lives Matter” and made numerous antisemitic comments, which has led brands like Balenciaga, Gap and Adidas to distance themselves from the artist and entrepreneur.

Management for Dawson declined to comment further on the post.

Dawson has worked as West’s primary engineer for nearly two decades, beginning with West’s debut studio album, The College Dropout, in 2003. He has worked on eight of West’s albums, securing Grammy wins for 2005’s Late Registration, 2007’s Graduation and 2010’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. Dawson’s last credited work with West was the song “Heaven and Hell” off 2021’s Donda.

Record producer Mike Dean — who has also worked with West since The College Dropout — reposted Dawson’s note and commented on the image saying, “Careful tho. Those royalties will shrink. Sucks. He’s hurting all his collaborators too.”

Over the course of his career, Dawson has worked as an engineer, producer, mixer and co-writer on many popular albums. He has worked with Destiny’s Child, Common, John Legend, Lil Wayne, Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg, Beyonce, Teyana Taylor, Childish Gambino and Linkin Park, among others.

This week alone, West was also dropped by his agency CAA and producer MRC scrapped a documentary on the rapper.

Check out Dawson’s post below.