Nigerian rapper, M.I Abaga, and his record label, Chocolate City, are suing American rap legend, Nas, whose real name is Nasir Jones, for allegedly failing to deliver a verse they paid for.
In the lawsuit, which was filed in the New York State Supreme Court last week, Nas was accused of duping Chocolate City after they had paid the rapper $50,000 for the verse.
According to the lawsuit, in 2013, Nas and Goodman entered an agreement to contribute a verse to a track from M.I.
While Nas did deliver a verse for M.I. to use, the lawsuit contends that the verse in question did not have any of the subject matter or name drops the two artists had agreed it would have: “M.I, Chocolate City, Nigeria, Queens, New York—NAS’s hometown—, Mandela, Trayvon Martin, and the struggles of Africans and African Americans.”
CCL requested that Nas re-record the verse, which the label says he never did, despite a promise to do so at some point and also despite an upfront payment of $45,000 to him and $5,000 to Goodman as Nas’s agent.
The Nigerian label requested that the Queens rapper re-record the verse, and three year later, he is alleged to have failed to live up to his own part of the agreement. M.I and his team say NAS has failed to respond despite them delivering the $50,000 payment.
In the lawsuit, Chocolate City is very complimentary to Nas. They called him “a highly respected lyricist in the music industry” and wrote that they wanted a verse from him “because of NAS’s exceptional talent as a lyric writer.”
Unfortunately, according to Chocolate City, ”that talent and lyricism was not evident in the verse they got.”
Four years have gone by and Nas has yet to deliver the verse, according to Chocolate City, leaving them no choice but to sue.
The label is asking for a refund of their $50,000, along with $1 million in damages relating to lost profits from being unable to market and sell the M.I./Nas collaboration, and punitive damages and attorney’s fees.
PREMIUM TIMES has reached out to MI and Chocolate City for their reactions.
The reactions of Nas and Mass Appeal Records’ Ronnie Goodman could not be immediately sought.
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