This is a real tricky story to follow. According to a report from Pitchfork, Aspire Music group filed a lawsuit against Cash Money Records for profits from Drake. Aspire claims to have signed Drake in 2008 and also claims to have signed a deal with Cash Money the following year to split profits for any commercial exploitation of the Canadian rapper.
Additionally, Aspire is being sued by James "Jas" Prince who claims to have discovered Drake. Prince is also suing Aspire Music Group's Co-owner Derrick Lawrence and his company "On The Road" for Drake profits. Long story short, all three lawsuits are tied together and bear the same commonality, profits were not distributed correctly or not at all in some cases. In the excerpt from the report below you can get a glimpse of how messy this whole situation is.
According to a copy of the complaint obtained by Pitchfork, Aspire alleges that Drake signed an exclusive recording deal with the label in December 2008. The next year, Aspire signed another deal with Cash Money that would give Aspire one-third of the profits from any “commercial exploitation” of Drake recordings, according to the complaint. Aspire now asserts that it wants Cash Money to give a full accounting of Drake earnings and to pay Aspire’s share of revenues, plus damages.
Here’s where things get a bit more complicated. Aspire’s suit—filed January 11 in the New York State Supreme Court—is related to multiple previous lawsuits: In 2012, James “Jas” Prince filed a lawsuit in New York state court claiming he discovered Drake, and alleging Aspire cut him out of the profits he was owed. (That case is ongoing.) Like the latest suit, Prince acknowledges the alleged 33 percent deal that Aspire and Cash Money struck in 2009. Prince’s multiple suits involve a 22 percent cut of Aspire’s alleged 33 percent, which he says he has never been paid. In the case against Aspire, he has been waiting for Aspire to sue Cash Money, his lawyer Jethro Eisenstein told Pitchfork. And now that’s happening.
While this string of litigation is incredibly entangled and confusing, it isn't uncharacteristic of Cash Money Records to refuse to pay people.
You can check out the full report, and a transcript of the legal documents here. Keep it locked for more details as they emerge.
