Lawsuit
Pras Of The Fugees Sued For Allegedly Finessing Company Over Music Catalog Sale
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Johnny Nunez / Getty Pras has some more explaining to do. A company is alleging he finessed them after they gave him a loan for his music. As spotted on Digital Music News The Fugees‘ member will have to answer for himself in a court of law. Back in January, a firm called Open On Sunday struck a deal with the “How Many Mics” performer. Both parties agreed the OOS would secure a loan based on his Sony Music royalties stemming from his work on Blunted On Reality, The Score, and his debut solo album Ghetto Supastar. Things seemed to get a bit messy immediately after the contract was finalized. In February, Pras allegedly asked for an amendment to the contract requesting for the loan to be based on a book deal versus his catalog which was denie...
Travis Scott Privately Settles First Astroworld Lawsuit With Victim’s Family
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Joce jfizzy/Bauer-Griffin / Getty Victims of the Astroworld tragedy are starting to see some light at the end of tunnel. Travis Scott has privately settled his first lawsuit. As spotted on Vulture the rapper has started to offer compensation to those who suffered trauma and loss at his 2021 festival that left an alleged 5,000 individuals hurt or dead. On Thursday, October 20 attorney Tony Buzbee posted to social making the announcement that they settled on behalf of the family of Axel Acosta. “The Buzbee Law Firm announced today that the claims brought by the family of Axel Acosta against Travis Scott, Live Nation, and others involved in the Astroworld tragedy have settled” the caption read. “The terms are confidential. Victim Axel Acosta was a belov...
Ed Sheeran Going to Trial Over Marvin Gaye Copyright Claims
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Joseph Okpako / Getty A federal judge has refused to dismiss the case against Ed Sheeran for allegedly lifting elements from Marvin Gaye’s iconic, “Let’s Get It On,” for his 2014 hit, “Thinking Out Loud.” According to Billboard, Judge Louis Stanton said there is “no bright-line rule” for deciding if the combination of simple elements that Sheeran allegedly stole were not unique enough to be covered by the copyright of the iconic Gaye hit. The decision sets Sheeran up to face a jury in the case which was filed by an entity that owns a partial stake in the Gaye hit. Related Stories The case was filed by a company called Structured Asset Sales which owns a one-third stake in the copyrights of Ed Townsend who co-wrote the hit song. David Pullman w...
Tiffany Haddish Says She ‘Lost Everything’ After Abuse Lawsuit
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: CHRIS DELMAS / Getty According to Tiffany Haddish, the recent controversy of being named in a lawsuit involving the abuse of minors has heavily damaged her career. The actress was interviewed after landing at Los Angeles International Airport on Wednesday (Sept. 21). It was one of the first public sightings since the Jane Doe lawsuit that was filed against her and comedian Aries Spears last month had been dismissed. When asked about how she was doing in the wake of the results, Haddish stated that it cost her a lot. “Oh, I lost everything. All my gigs, gone,” she replied. “Everything, gone. I don’t know, bro. I don’t have no job. I don’t have no job, bro.” Related Stories There has been no public word of Haddish being let go – currently, she’s set to appe...
Hov Did: Jay-Z To Receive $7M In Unpaid Royalties From Parlux Fragrances
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Robert Kamau / Getty Jay-Z is having a hell of a month. The Brooklyn rapper/mogul was awarded almost $7 million dollars in unpaid royalties from his former partner Parlux Fragrances. As per Complex the music icon will be cashing in on a deal that went very wrong. On Thursday, August 25 Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Andrew Borrok ruled that perfume company Parlux, owes Jay-Z $6.78 million in unpaid royalties. The judgment comes nine months after the two parties took their differences to court, and it was deemed that Jay-Z did not breach the contract as an ambassador for the now defunct smell good product. Related Stories The “Song Cry” rapper partnered with Parlux Fragrances back in 2013 but things went left when the brand claims that he did not liv...
Vanessa Bryant Wins $16M Lawsuit Over Kobe Bryant Helicopter Crash Photos
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: PATRICK T. FALLON / Getty Vanessa Bryant, the widow of NBA legend Kobe Bryant, won a significant lawsuit against Los Angeles County after sheriff’s deputies and the fire department shared photos of a fatal crash that killed Bryant and others. Mrs. Bryant was awarded $16 million while another man, Chris Chester, was awarded $15 million. The Los Angeles Times reports that Vanessa Bryant, 40, and Chris Chester, 48, won their lawsuit on Wednesday (August 24) after just hours of deliberations. Mrs. Bryant lost her husband and eldest daughter, Gianna “Gigi” Bryant. Chester lost his wife, Sarah, and their daughter, Payton. Related Stories “We’re not here because of an accident,” Bryant’s attorney Craig Lavoie said during closing arguments earlier in the week acc...
Former Employees File Class Action Lawsuit Against Pollen Over Unpaid Wages
Amid the fallout of Pollen, the destination events company is now facing a class action lawsuit from former employees, Digital Music News reports. Pollen recently went into administration in the U.K. after receiving droves of complaints from consumers, many of whom allege the company failed to issue refunds for events that had been canceled. The company also drew the ire of a number of its partners, like Drumcode Malta, whose organizers said Pollen’s highly publicized struggles forced them to pull the plug on the festival. As the news circulated, Pollen released a statement attributing its pitfalls to a number of factors, including COVID-19 restrictions and a global economic downtick. The statement arrived days after Live Nation released its Q2 financials, reporting $4.43 billion in ...
Pay Up: Swizz Beatz & Timbaland Sues Triller For $28M Over VERZUZ Deal
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Frazer Harrison / Getty VERZUZ was launched at the height of the pandemic by megastar producers Swizz Beatz and Timbaland, and they elevated the platform to a level that a deal with Triller commenced. However, it appears that the deal has turned sour and the pair launched a $28 million lawsuit in the direction of their business partners. According to a report from The Washington Post, the filing of Swizz Beatz and Timbaland’s VERZUZ lawsuit against Triller took place on Tuesday (August 16) and it appears that Triller has defaulted on paying the creators of the platform. “To date, Defendants have failed and refused to make any payment to [Swizz Beatz and Timbaland] of the past due sums due and owing,” reads a portion of the lawsuit. It claims that Triller ...
Johnson & Johnson to Stop Production of Talc-Based Baby Powder
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Justin Sullivan / Getty After being sued by cancer patients who claimed that its baby powder contained asbestos—Johnson & Johnson stopped using talc in 2020. Now, the company will switch to cornstarch in its baby powder by 2023. More than 40,000 lawsuits were filed against the company over the past few years with plaintiffs alleging they were sickened with ovarian cancer or mesothelioma. Further, they allege that the company continued to use talc even knowing the health risks. “It’s kind of the no-brainer solution,” Alex Scranton, director of science and research at the environmental advocacy group Women’s Voices for the Earth told The New York Times of the discontinuation. Nearly 200 organizations participated in a campaign led by B...
SEC charges 11 individuals over $300M crypto ‘pyramid scheme’
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged 11 individuals for their alleged role in the creation of a “fraudulent crypto pyramid scheme” platform Forsage. The charges were laid in a United States District Court in Illinois on August 1, with the SEC alleging that the founders and promoters of the platform used the “fraudulent crypto pyramid and Ponzi scheme” to raise more than $300 million from “millions of retail investors worldwide.” The SEC complaint states that Forsage was modeled such that investors would be financially rewarded by recruiting new investors to the platform in a “typical Ponzi structure,” which spanned multiple countries including the United States and Russia. According to the SEC, a Ponzi scheme is an investment fraud th...
Chicago House Music Legend Sues Kanye West Over Alleged Copyright Infringement
Legendary house music artist Marshall Jefferson has launched a lawsuit against Kanye West on the basis of alleged copyright infringement. The complaint, filed in New York’s U.S. District Court, alleges West sampled Jefferson’s 1986 song “Move Your Body” without licensed permission. After producing under the alias Virgo, it was the first track of Jefferson’s career he had released under his own name. Billboard reports the lawsuit claims West sampled Jefferson’s song 22 times in “Flowers,” a single from his 11th studio album, Donda 2, which released in February 2022. Unlike its predecessor, Donda 2 was released exclusively on West’s own Stem Player platform. The lawsuit notes that West earned a reported $2.2 million in physical Stem P...
Grammy-Winning Artist H.E.R. Sues Label for Release
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Scott Dudelson / Getty Singer-songwriter H.E.R. is suing her record label for release citing a California statute that limits contracts to seven years. H.E.R. née Gabriella Sarmiento Wilson filed for declaratory relief and violation of the business and professions code and is seeking to be released from MBK Entertainment. The company is owned by her manager Jeff Robinson who signed her in 2011 at the age of 14. Related Stories According to documents reviewed by The Blast, H.E.R. is named as an ‘exclusive employee’ for an initial period which “ended the later of 15 months after May 19, 2011 or 12 months after the commercial release of Wilson’s first album under contract, and up to five additional option period of more than one year each.” Wilso...
