The financial battle between rapper Offset and his former record label Quality Control is heating up.
Co-founders Kevin “Coach K” Lee and Pierre “P” Thomas are suing their former artist for a cut from his solo projects, Radar Online first reported this week.
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Quality Control’s lawsuit is a countersuit against the artist’s lawsuit from last year.
As Finurah previously reported, Offset, whose real name is Kiari Kendrell Cephus, filed a lawsuit against QC in August 2022. The rapper, whose estimated net worth is $26 million, claimed he paid for his artist rights in January 2021 in order to have control over his solo music, but QC still says they are due a cut of profits from Offset’s Baby Keem-produced solo single, “5, 4, 3, 2, 1″ and his song “Code” he did with Moneybagg Yo.
Offset was signed with QC from 2013 to 2020 as one third of The Migos rap group. The label maintained full control and took 50 percent of his profits during this time, Offset claims. The Migos released their debut album, “Yung Rich Nation,” in July 2015 through Quality Control Music and 300 Entertainment.
Lee and Thomas believe, in addition to money being owed, Offset breached a “confidentiality provision” by revealing “the terms of the Settlement Agreement in the Complaint and in social media posts, and by sharing the Settlement Agreement with various Universal Music Group executive,” according to Vibe.
Offset is adamant that he negotiated with his former imprint and “paid handsomely” for his solo career.
“Offset now brings this action to vindicate his rights and make it clear to the world that Offset, not Quality Control, owns Offset’s music,” the suit read, Radar reported.
Offset, who is married to rap mogul Cardi B, is now signed to Motown Records, which is under Universal Music Group, as is QC.
QC notes in its countersuit that the 2021 settlement does not mean they can not collect royalties from Offset’s solo work, clarifying that it had two deals in place, a production agreement and a label, with the latter agreement being active.
“Not only are the accusations in this lawsuit false, they are totally detached from reality. Offset remains a part of QC. Back to business,” QC’s response to Offset’s lawsuit, The Fader reported.
The difference between a production deal and a label deal, according to Karl Fowlkes, an entertainment attorney on Medium, is that production agreements are deals that handle financing the production of records for an artist to shop them to a major record label, and a label agreement is the contract that record label companies use to maintain their ownership and licensing rights of master recordings.
