Trouble may be brewing between Nelly and his former St. Lunatics bandmates after the latter filed a copyright lawsuit against him over his critically acclaimed debut album, Country Grammar.
Released in 2000, Country Grammar shot Nelly, born Cornell Haynes, into superstardom. The award-winning album featured hit singles including Country Grammar, E.I., and Ride wit Me. But 20 years after the release of the project, the 49-year-old rapper’s former bandmates are accusing him of omitting them from the album’s credits and royalty payments, Billboard reported.
The lawsuit was filed in a Manhattan federal court on Wednesday, and the plaintiffs were named as St. Lunatics members Ali (Ali Jones), Murphy Lee (Tohri Harper), Kyjuan (Robert Kyjuan), and City Spud (Lavell Webb). But Slo Down (Corey Edwards), who was also a member of the group, is not among the plaintiffs.
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Nelly and his former St. Lunatics bandmates were friends from high school, and they shot into the limelight with their 1998 hit single, Gimme What U Got. They released their debut album, Free City, in 2001, and it debuted at number 3 on the Billboard 200.
Per the suit, the plaintiffs’ lawyers claim that Nelly on multiple occasions “manipulated” his St. Lunatics bandmates to wrongly believe they were going to be financially rewarded for contributing to his Country Grammar album.
“Every time plaintiffs confronted defendant Haynes [he] would assure them as ‘friends’ he would never prevent them from receiving the financial success they were entitled to,” the complaint states. “Unfortunately, plaintiffs, reasonably believing that their friend and former band member would never steal credit for writing the original compositions, did not initially pursue any legal remedies.”
The public credits for Country Grammar repeatedly name Nelly’s former bandmates as co-writers for several songs on the project. For his standout hit single, Ride Wit Me, Nelly shares co-writing and co-performing credits with City Spud, Billboard reported.
But the defendant’s former bandmates in the lawsuit claim that they should have been credited for more songs on the album. They claim they contributed to tracks including Steal the Show, Thicky Thick Girl, Batter Up, Wrap Sumden, and Country Grammar.
The plaintiffs also mentioned what Nelly told them before and after the recording session of Country Grammar. They claim that the rapper “privately and publicly acknowledged that plaintiffs were the lyric writers” and “promised to ensure that plaintiffs received writing and publishing credit.” They, however, claim they “discovered” in 2020 that “defendant Haynes had been lying to them the entire time”
“Despite repeatedly promising plaintiffs that they would receive full recognition and credit… it eventually became clear that defendant Haynes had no intention of providing the plaintiffs with any such credit or recognition,” the suit states.
After they became aware that Nelly had “failed to provide proper credit and publishing income,” the bandmembers said an attorney representing them got in touch with Universal Music Publishing Group. And though the letter was also brought to the attention of Nelly’s attorneys, the plaintiffs allege the defendant’s legal team in 2021 “expressly repudiated” their credit claims.
“Plaintiffs had no alternative but to commence legal proceedings against Defendants,” the lawsuit states.
But the case could turn out to be contentious. Per Billboard, though lawsuits pertaining to copyright infringement can be filed decades after the release of an infringing song, that isn’t the same for copyright ownership cases as they have a three-year statute of limitations.
The St. Lunatics case is listed as a copyright infringement, with the band members claiming that Nelly did not seek their permission before using their songs. It is, however, predicted that Nelly’s lawyers will initially claim the disagreement is actually over ownership, meaning that the three-year statute of limitations has passed.
But the plaintiffs’ attorney, Precious Felder Gates, begged to differ in a statement to the news outlet. “We’re not concerned about the statute of limitations and hope for an harmonious resolution. If not, we will pursue all legal remedies afforded to our clients,” Gates said.
