Atlanta rap star T-Pain has sued his record label Konvict for failure to pay him an advance on his fifth album, which came out last year.
In the civil complaint filed in the Superior Court of Fulton County this week, T-Pain (real name: Faheem Rasheed Najm) said he originally signed with the label in 2005 and was obligated for up to six albums. He released the first four without incident but had problems receiving payment for his fifth called “Oblivion.”
Last November, his law firm Greenberg Traurig sent a letter to Konvict’s attorney on record Taylor English saying T-Pain is owed a minimum of $200,000 as an advance and another $200,000 with the delivery of the album. Taylor English sent a letter back in December saying it no longer represented Konvict.
In the lawsuit, T-Pain is also seeking unspecified “semi-annual royalty accountings and payments” based on the recording agreement.
Greenberg Traurig no longer represents T-Pain. The attorneys who filed the lawsuit are Kenily Kumar LLC in Peachtree Corners and Reitler Kailas & Rosenblatt LLC in New York. Scotty Kenily said in an interview that Konvict has 30 days to respond of the case goes into summary judgment and the company would automatically owe T-Pain the money.
Last November around the same time the letter was sent to Konvict, T-Pain's label Nappy Boy Entertainment sued Universal Music Group's Cash Money Records for unpaid royalties, specifically from Lil Wayne's albums "Tha Carter III" (2008) and "Tha Carter IV" (2011), according to TMZ.
In that lawsuit, T-Pain claimed he and Nappy Boy signee Young Fyre were owned more than $500,000.
Konvict Kartel (AKA Konvict Entertainment LLC) is a record label created by R&B singer Akon.
Originally posted on Tuesday, June 26, 2018 by RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com on Melissa Ruggieri's AJC Atlanta Music Scene blog
