Drama continues to plague Hip-Hop collective Wu-Tang Clan, as group member U-God is suing Wu Music Group, claiming the label owes him over $170,000 in back royalties.
The rapper filed a lawsuit on Tuesday (January 8) in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, claiming that he has not been paid advances due for the latest Wu-Tang album 8 Diagrams since signing a deal in May of 2007.
U-God, born Lamont Hawkins, is also suing Wu Music for income earned from the group’s Rock The Bells tour, a publishing deal with BMG and proceeds from the sales of Wu-Tang merchandise.
"Defendant has failed and/or refused to pay certain monies currently due and owing to plaintiff, despite plaintiff’s repeated demands that it do so," the lawsuit reads.
U-God claims that he is owed at least $50,000 dollars for his involvement in the Rock The Bells tour, $60,000 dollars for the BMG publishing advance and approximately $40,000 dollars for the Wu-Tang Clan album advance.
The lawsuit also accuses Wu Music of intentionally breaching the contract with U-God willfully and intentionally, "without justification."
In addition to the $170,000 dollars, U-God is seeking 9% interest to be calculated by the filing date of the lawsuit (January 8), as well as attorney fees.
Other members of the Wu-Tang Clan including Ghostface and Raekwon have made allegations that they have not been properly compensated for their work within the group.
"I feel like I am being taken advantage of. Sometimes we didn’t even get a chance to see no paperwork, so we like hold up hold up, deliver that paperwork, and we agree to agree, or we agree to disagree," Raekwon told Miss Info in November of 2007. "It be seeming like motherf**kers be like ‘you don’t need to see no paperwork.’ I be like ‘What? You talkin‘ reckless to me B and that’s when the bulls**t starts.
"A motherf**ker may know you love them because you love them like that, and then the next thing you know, he use that as a weakness in your mind. It’s to the point where it’s like yo, you getting beat like a ho now, you might as well be pimpin’ me or something n***a. You aint paying me right and you aint keeping me fresh."
RZA replied to the comments during an interview with BBC Radio 1’s Tim Westwood. "It’s really all good, different directions. It was a disagreement. Everything is back all peace already. I aint never ever take no money from nobody and I don‘t owe nobody no money. Don‘t ever say that. I work hard and I pay all my bills."
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