Troubled rap star Kanye West is in more legal trouble.
In addition to being sued by George Floyd’s daughter and her mother, a new lawsuit has been filed against the artist, who went from worth $6.6 billion to about $400 million in months.
According to the Art Newspaper, an art and retail showroom in Miami’s Design District called Surface Area says Ye owes them a total of $145,813 for a month-long rental. Their lawyers filed a claim on Monday, October 24th, in Florida’s Southern District Court.
Also named in the suit, but not as defendants, are rapper Pardison Fontaine, producer 88-Keys, Ye’s manager Steven Victor and former collaborator Laurence Chandler.
Located a block from the Institute of Contemporary Art, the gallery is a big deal. It is considered a “content studio and activation space,” and Ye rented the space for 25 days at the top of the year.
In January 2022, he used the space as a recording studio but never paid. Court documents say he was rending the studio for $5,000 a day, hired the staff for $20,000 to customize the rooms to fit his liking, including (but not limited to) removing over 20 pieces of art, and bought four office chairs for his comfort.
When the Grammy award-winning artist was finished, he was out without paying his debt.
“My client pulled off what was essentially an overnight transformation of its art studio into a recording studio for Ye and accompanying artists,” says Jonathan Smulevich, a lawyer at the Miami firm Lowy and Cook, which is representing Surface Area’s parent company Surface Media, said.
“In doing so, no request was too big or too small—Ye asked, and they delivered—and my client incurred significant costs and expenses to deliver,” he continued. “My client is simply asking for the payment they were promised by Ye for their hard work in customizing and renting this unique space to Ye.”
“Hopefully, this matter can be resolved quickly without prolonged litigation. However, my client has made it clear that it will not bear the financial burden that belongs to Ye,” Smulevich concluded.
Yeezy will have to find a lawyer. The Brown Rudnick law firm that used to represent him has dropped him after he made his antisemitic statements and refused to correct himself.
