St. Louis rap star Nelly is being sued by St. Lunatics group members who claim they never received full credit or royalties for his smash 2000 album “Country Grammar.”
Billboard.com was the first outlet to report that attorneys for St. Lunatics members Ali, Murphy Lee, Kyjuan, and City Spud — all of whom appear on “Country Grammar “— filed the complaint on Wednesday (Sept. 18) in a Manhattan federal court.
“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 lawsuit states, according to Billboard.com. “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.”
Billboard.com pointed out that the lawsuit is framed as a copyright infringement lawsuit — claiming Nelly used St. Lunatics songs — and not a legal fight over song ownership, which has a three-year statute of limitations. “Country Grammar” was released 24 years ago.
The St. Lunatics are said by Musicbusinessworldwide.com to be seeking a jury trial, plus “actual and compensatory damages suffered as a result of defendants’ continuing unlawful, illegal and infringing conduct in an amount to be determined at trial, but which are in no event less than $50 million.”
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