Things aren’t looking so great in Nellyville between St. Louis rap legend Nelly and the crew which helped him craft the highest-selling album of his career.
On Wednesday, members of the St. Lunatics filed an infringement lawsuit in federal court, claiming that Nelly, born Cornell Haynes, manipulated them multiple times into thinking that they would be compensated for their work on the uber-popular debut studio album, 2000's “Country Grammar.”
They claim that Nelly used their songs without permission, according to Billboard. The suit was filed by every other former member of the group, including Murphy Lee, Ali, City Spud, Kyjuan, and Slo Down.
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“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 reads. “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.”
In the lawsuit, the members claim that during the creation of “Country Grammar,” Nelly would repeatedly give credit to the St. Lunatics (publicly and privately) for their writing on the record and would ensure that they would be paid for it. But they later discovered that they weren’t.
According to Billboard, they claim that they helped create more songs than they ended up being credited for on the album, which includes, “Steal the Show,” “Thicky Thick Girl,” “Batter Up,” and “Wrap Sumden.”
If their claims are true, this crew could be in for a big payday considering “Country Grammar” has been an RIAA-certified diamond record since its release.
As per the report from Billboard, the St. Lunatics originally realized that they weren’t compensated correctly in 2020, and hired an attorney to reach out to Universal Music Publishing Group in 2021.
In a statement, the group’s attorney, Precious Felder Gates, said, “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.”