Nelly burst onto the scene in 2000 with his debut album Country Grammar and rolled with the St. Lunatics group comprised of his childhood friends from his hometown of St. Louis. Nelly now faces a lawsuit alleging that he failed to credit the St. Lunatics for their hand in crafting his debut album.
As reported by Variety, Nelly, real name Cornell Haynes, is facing a copyright infringement for what the St. Lunatics say is uncredited and unpaid work that went into the making of Country Grammar.
The St. Lunatics collective includes Ali (Ali Jones), Murphy Lee (Torhi Harper), Kyjuan (Robert Kyjuan), and City Spud (Lavell Webb). The group filed the lawsuit earlier this week in New York federal court.
The outlet overlooked the lawsuit which said that Nelly and the St. Lunatics were friends since grade school and began writing songs together in the 1990s. They then signed separately to deals at Universal Music Group and the lawsuit claims that the St. Lunatics contributed heavily to Country Grammar. Their side said they tried to negotiate with Nelly regarding the crediting and were allegedly told things would move forward but in 2020, they discovered they were duped and that he took full credit for their work.
The St. Lunatics said they learned of their missing credits after Willie Woods Jr. filed a lawsuit in 2020 demanding royalties for his contributions to the hit single “Ride Wit Me” which opened the door for the latest legal actions. It appears that Nelly himself didn’t shoot down the St. Lunatics but instead, his legal representatives, which promoted the group to assert that the rapper never intended to give them proper credit.
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