Although the hottest legal item this week has been the closing statements on the Jackson Family's $40 billion lawsuit against AEG Live, there's a more prescient case for music fans that's also happening in California: Tupac Shakur's mother, Afeni Shakur, is suing Canadian record label Entertainment One for $1.1 million (the good news in this case is that there's logic behind that sum).
The $1.1 million represents the royalties still owed to the rapper's estate from Death Row Records, but of course things are complicated. Afeni is also suing to gain access to all of her son's unreleased back catalog. After Tupac's death, the label and his estate organized so that Death Row would maintain one "album's worth" of material, and the rest would go to Afeni. As you know, new Tupac compilations are all over the place, so Afeni figured that the label had gotten what it was promised, and it was about time they turned over the rest of the recordings and the back royalties they owed.
The problem is that Death Row has had a number of financial issues over the years, and what better way for a rap label to overcome financial issues than by selling off it's Tupac discography?
Suge Knight's company was bought by Koch Entertainment in 2003, and the label miiiiiight have told Koch that it could produce three Tupac records, although it was only contractually promised one. Koch was also supposed to handle the royalties, which of course it didn't.
Death Row applied for bankruptcy in 2006, and Entertainment One has just now bought the company, which technically makes it responsible for Tupac's royalties.
Why it matters to you: Afeni has made it her goal to release ALL of her son's music in one fell swoop, which would be a huge win for hip-hop fans. Plus, you wouldn't have to keep wondering when the next Tupac leak is happening.
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