A Los Angeles production company is suing Lil Uzi Vert for more than $500,000 in unpaid bills, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday in a U.S. District Court in Atlanta.
Lil Uzi Vert, born Symere Bysil Woods, his manager Amina Diop and his Georgia-based company Uzivert are the three defendants named in lawsuit. M99 Studios alleges that the rapper failed to pay them for services related to festival performances and live touring over the course of several years.
The company is a creative agency that specializes in event production and music touring, according to the suit. M99 Studios helps provide travel and tour support for its clients along with creating stage concepts for artists. Formed in 2017, the company has worked with some of the biggest names in music like SZA, Dua Lipa, Diplo and more. Along with Lil Uzi Vert, the production studio’s other notable clients include Future, Playboi Carti, Gunna and 6lack, according to its website.
M99 Studios claims that Lil Uzi Vert has been a client since 2017. Throughout the duration of their professional relationship, the company said the rapper’s credit card would often decline while on tour, leaving M99 Studios fully responsible for expenses. The problems became more frequent after 2019, the suit claims, when Diop started working as Lil Uzi Vert’s manager.
The agency stated that Diop knew about the issue while still relying on them to provide loans to the artist and his company. M99 Studios was also expected to continue working for the artist after excuses were made for past-due invoices, according to the suit. The conflict peaked in 2023, when Lil Uzi Vert stopped paying for invoices submitted by M99, the company alleged.
Lil Uzi Vert (who uses they/them pronouns) dropped their highly-anticipated album “Pink Tape” on June 30, 2023. The album debuted at no. 1 on the Billboard 200. It features Nicki Minaj, Travis Scott and more. Throughout that year, M99 Studios was contracted by Diop for the rapper’s string of shows to support the album, the suit claims. The production company provided services for Lil Uzi Vert for the following 2023 summer festivals: Roots Picnic, Broccoli City and Rolling Loud. M99 Studios also helped with the rapper’s European tour in June and July of that year. Invoices for each show have yet to be paid, according to the company.
Credit: Evan Agostini
Credit: Evan Agostini
In the suit, M99 Studios also alleges that Diop contracted their services for the rapper’s Australian tour. The company initially declined due to the set of unpaid invoices, but said Diop made a $100,000 payment to assure them they’d be paid after the tour, which didn’t happen. M99 Studios says it parted ways with Lil Uzi Vert after the Australian tour and didn’t invoice his team for expenses incurred during those shows, in an effort to help the artist’s team pay for the late payments.
M99 also claims that they were expected to complete last-minute production elements for Lil Uzi Vert. The suit cites an example at last year’s Rolling Loud Miami Festival, in which M99 was required to recruit 30 professional dancers only hours before the show.
The company is seeking roughly $533,000 plus statutory interest for damages related to the outstanding invoices. M99 is represented by Atlanta attorney Carey A. Miller.
Representatives for Lil Uzi Vert and Diop did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Lil Uzi Vert hasn’t dropped any new music so far this year. In April, they performed at Coachella. Their next show is scheduled for July 6, the last day Summerfest in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
