Humble Beast Recordings, which announced the addition of a coffee arm early this year, announced the subtraction of several artists from its label on Tuesday.

According to an open letter on its official website, Humble Beast’s roster is now formed by Propaganda, Beautiful Eulogy, Jackie Hill Perry and JGivens. This means that Eshon Burgundy, Foreknown and Alert312 — along with Lee Green, whose departure was announced last month — are free agents. Producers Daniel Steele and DJ Efechto were also previously on the record label.

Here is the video and full statement that Humble Beast released to explain the decision.

Past. Present. & Future.

Humble Beast started 6 years ago with one goal in mind: free and excellent Gospel resources in the context we know best: hip hop. We built with our friends. We invited them to join us. We assembled a team that shared our heart and philosophy of ministry. By God’s grace we continued to grow, yet our unorthodox approach has brought forth many unique challenges. One of the implications of our free model is that we are often short on time and resources. Our daily operations are handled by a handful of men who sacrificially give their talents and energy because they believe in the vision. We have always considered Humble Beast to be a ministry more than a record label and our priorities have been established by that distinction.

In light of our vision, the cost of our free model and the increasing responsibilities associated with our growth – we have determined that the wisest way for us to move forward is to narrow down the size of our roster. There are many factors contributing to this decision, most importantly, it has become a matter of stewardship. We created the video “Past. Present. & Future.” to offer a fuller picture of who we are and what we do. This brief write up is a short summary of the information covered in that video, which we encourage everyone to watch.

It has been a privilege to work with so many gifted artists and to play a small role in helping expose their art and message to people within our network. Please continue to follow our friends as we expect nothing but the best from them. Our roster moving forward will consist of Propaganda, Beautiful Eulogy, Jackie Hill Perry and JGivens. We know for some of you, this might leave some questions unanswered. Our desire was to make this announcement in the most clear, yet healthiest way we could out of love for our Lord, for our artists and for everyone who has supported us this far. Please continue to follow Humble Beast as we continue pursuing our mission of freely giving.

Your friends and brothers,

Humble Beast