Lil Durk has been hit with a hefty lawsuit for allegedly trying to sell the rights to the same song twice.
According to court documents obtained by HipHopDX, Exceed Talent Capital — who officially filed their complaint on Wednesday (December 6) — claimed that Durkio had contractual obligations to them for the song “Bedtime.” However, he’d also sold the rights to the song to Sony Alamo Music, which Exceed claims constitutes an act of fraud on his part.
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The court document states: “Through this action, plaintiff Exceed Talent Capital, LLC (“plaintiff” or “Exceed”) seeks redress against defendants for their manifest fraud and concomitant breaches of the parties’ Music Revenue Rights Agreement (the “Agreement”), through which defendants purported to grant Exceed significant rights in connection with a sound recording by defendant Durk Derrick Banks (“Banks”), a well-known recording artist who is professionally known as Lil Durk.”
Check out the complaint in full below.
Exceed also contends that they purchased the rights to the song for $600,000 in what they were hoping would be a “fractional investment” scheme. In this type of scheme, ongoing royalties to the song can be sold in small portions (or “fractions”), allowing others — including fans — to reap the financial benefits.
In this kind of situation, rights to a song can be looked at as a stock of sorts, with each investor getting a portion of what they’d paid for based on the number of shares they’d purchased.
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However, Lil Durk — whose song, “All My Life,” is up for a DX Award for Best Hip Hop Song of 2023 — had allegedly already sold the rights to “Bedtime” to Sony Alamo for $450,000. Exceed claims they weren’t aware of the sale until they were slapped with a cease-and-desist from the record label back in May.
Even worse, Exceed alleges that they had to clear the sale with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) before they offered the deal to Lil Durk, and the cancellation of the sale resulted in steep penalties.
Finally, Exceed claimes that they tried to get the rapper to return the $450,000 that had already allegedly been paid for the purchase, and Lil Durk refused to do so.
Exceed is seeking $12 million in damages.
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In related news, Kanye West is reportedly looking to buy Lil Durk out of his contract with 300/Alamo Records.
Last month, it was revealed that Ye was “in talks” about the deal, which was prompted by 300 CEO Todd Moscowitz refusing to clear another Durk verse — separate from his recent “Vultures” appearance with Kanye — for Yeezy’s upcoming album, causing some friction between the OTF boss and the label.
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When Ye’s “Vultures” with Ty Dolla $ign, Bump J was initially premiered earlier this month on WPWX Power 92 Chicago, Durk’s verse was present alongside the others. However, when the track landed on streaming services his bars were nowhere to be found.
However, they eventually righted the situation and Lil Durk’s vocals were added on streaming platforms on Thanksgiving.
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The 31-year-old was signed to Def Jam before going independent and joining the Alamo Records team in the summer of 2018.
