Nelly Hit with $50 Million Lawsuit from Former St. Lunatics Members Over Country Grammar Writing Credits
Former St. Lunatics members have filed a $50 million lawsuit against rapper Nelly (Cornell Haynes Jr.), alleging he denied them writing credits for his 2000 album, Country Grammar.
Nelly wearing sunglasses and colorful shirt
Photo Credit: The Come Up Show / CC by 2.0
The plaintiffs—Ali Jones, Lavell Web, Robert Kyjuan, and Tohri Harper—claim Nelly promised them writing credits during the album's recording sessions. They continued performing with him based on these assurances, both as backup performers and as the St. Lunatics group.
The lawsuit states they discovered in 2020 that Nelly and others had taken full credit for creating the original compositions. This revelation came after learning about a separate dispute between Willie Woods Jr. (aka John Long) and Nelly regarding writing credits for "Ride Wit Me."
The group is pursuing legal action for copyright infringement, naming several major music companies as defendants alongside Nelly:
- Universal Music Group (UMG)
- Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG)
- BMG
- Kobalt
- Hipgnosis
Nelly at media event backdrop
Update: Three St. Lunatics members have since dropped their involvement in the lawsuit.
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