The Pharcyde members have had an ongoing dispute regarding several matters including the group’s name. Now, a lawsuit has been filed by Bootie Brown and Imani against Fatlip and Slimkid3 claiming breach of contract, unfair competition, unjust enrichment and trademark infringement, among other charges.
Brown and Imani are suing because Slimkid3 and Fatlip have performed under the group name. According to the lawsuit, Fatlip and Slimkid gave away their rights to the name years ago after an agreement was settled amongst members. The lawsuit also claims that Brown and Imani gained control of “names, likenesses and other identifying material, only in connection with the sale or promotion of recordings recorded under the recording contract as amended,” according to AllHipHop’s report.
Brown and Imani also claim that Fatlip and Slimkid3 have performed under the same name in the same city around the same time, causing conflict. “These practices of the defendants have caused a great deal of confusion among consumers, with a likelihood of additional confusion at each stop of the plaintiffs’ tour, and have cost plaintiffs revenue from consumers who might otherwise pay to see a Pharcyde performance, wrongfully believing that the legitimate concerts by plaintiffs will be the same show that just appeared in that city,” the lawsuit states.
In August of 2012, Slimkid3 spoke with HipHopDX about the strains in the group’s relationship, as well as the dispute regarding The Pharcyde name and their live performances.
I think those guys want to stay in control. Currently, they claim to be The Pharcyde. It feels like they want to let the world know that they’re doing this stuff. They want to erase everything that ever existed. They want people to look at them as The Pharcyde like me and Fatlip never existed. You can’t do that. We’ve made history already. You can never erase us from history. I think it’s pride. Whatever wrongs done in the past on all sides. I can’t sit here and take the full weight like I did everything because that’s not true. I have plenty frustrations like everyone else. I had nervous breakdowns and all kinds of stuff, if you care to understand what I was going through. I have to look at what they were going through too, how they may have felt when I left the group. There’s a lot of things to it. But if you never listened to what I was trying to say, you didn’t really give a fuck whatsoever. That’s like any relationship. It’s like with a man and a woman. If you guys never listen to each other, you have absolutely no interest in working together. You only have interest in what you want out of the situation and to be able to milk it for as much as you can. But relationships are about working together, being able to tolerate each other. I don’t know where their head is at currently. It sounds like control. They just want to stay in control. I don’t know how rich they think they’re gonna get but you’re not even giving fans what they’re looking for. Knock on wood. We’re all alive. We’re all capable of working things out and cooperating but they’re not choosing that route because they want the world to see them as The Pharcyde. It doesn’t make sense to me. You guys should be a whole new entity yourselves because you’re not giving the fans what they are looking to have. Even when me and Fatlip are on stage, I’m sure they want to see the whole four. We’re not keeping that from them but they other two are really keeping that from everyone else. They’re going around doing their thing and it’s fine. Everybody should be able to eat, feed families and make money. But all the elements that made Bizarre Ride are over here with Delicious Vinyl working daily to make a better show and to be together. Everybody’s feeling good, laughing, joking and talking about the 20 year magic, putting the past behind us and enjoying this new thing. I don’t know, man. I really don’t want to talk bad about the other two but I don’t want there to be as much fighting as there is. Fighting is more expensive. We can make so much money together. Eventually we’ll die and history will be whatever it is but right now we have opportunities to not fight, make some good money an have some fun. But when you have someone trying to stay in control and the grip they have on it is so tight, you’re not even flying the plane anymore. Where are you taking this thing?
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