Four members of the St. Lunatics sued their longtime friend and collaborator Nelly for copyright infringement and unjust enrichment on Wednesday (September 18). According to court documents obtained by AllHipHop, the St. Lunatics said they never received proper credit or payment for their work on Nelly’s diamond-selling album Country Grammar. Billboard was the first to report the lawsuit.
Ali, Murphy Lee, Kyjuan and City Spud accused Nelly of falsely and fraudulently claiming to be the sole author of multiple tracks he created with the St. Lunatics. The songs included “Batter Up,” “Thicky Thick Girl” and “Steal the Show” from Nelly’s debut album, which dropped in 2000.
The St. Lunatics claimed Nelly, whose real name is Cornell Haynes, promised they’d receive rightful compensation for their contributions. Ali, Murphy Lee, Kyjuan and City Spud realized Nelly lied to them around 2020.
“Despite repeated assurances by defendant Haynes that plaintiffs would receive their writing credit and publishing income for creating the Original Compositions, plaintiffs, sometime in 2020, eventually discovered that defendant Haynes had been lying to them the entire time,” the lawsuit read. “Plaintiffs eventually discovered that not only did they not receive any credit as authors and/or creators of the Original Compositions, but that defendant Haynes, and others, took full credit for creating the Original Compositions contained in the Infringing Album.”
The St. Lunatics said Nelly manipulated them. The group members trusted their friend’s word before finding out Nelly denied their claims of authorship in 2021.
“Every time plaintiffs confronted defendant Haynes about their publishing credit and income for creating and authoring the Original Compositions, defendant Haynes would assure them as ‘friends’ he would never prevent them from receiving the financial success they were entitled to as writers of the Original Composition,” the lawsuit contended. “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 and believed defendant Haynes would make good on his promise to ensure plaintiffs received: (i) recognition as writers and authors of the Original Compositions contained in the Infringing Album; and (ii) the publishing income from the exploitation of the Infringing Album.”
Ali, Murphy Lee, Kyjuan and City Spud sought at least $50 million in damages. The lawsuit named Universal Music Group, BMG Songs, Kobalt Music Group and Hipgnosis as Nelly’s co-defendants.