According to a report by Page Six, legendary hip-hop producer Pete Rock says equally legendary emcee Nas hasn’t paid him anything for his work on what many people believe to be the greatest hip-hop album of all time.
Rock and his attorneys claim that the Queens rapper — né Nasir Jones — signed a contract that would allow the producer a cut of the proceeds from the classic track “The World Is Yours,” a total that’s now in the millions of dollars.
And we’re told that lawyers for Rock have repeatedly demanded that Nas honor the alleged deal, to no avail.
Rock has a writing credit on the tune — the only single on the 1994 LP to have gone gold — produced it and even provided vocals.
Now we’re told Rock’s legal team is preparing to file a lawsuit in January, we’re told.
“Nas and his people have stonewalled me since 1994; My New Year’s resolution is to be compensated for my hard work on ‘Illmatic.’”
There are many odd things about this story.
After All These Years, Why Tell Page Six?
I am no stranger to cease and desist letters. And it’s not all that uncommon to make threats in the media to sue. So it doesn’t bother me that Pete Rock has said he’s going to sue but hasn’t actually sued anybody. But this issue, if true, has been simmering for (checks watch) twenty-seven years?! Why is this still in the Threatening To Sue phase?
There isn’t enough known about the behind-the-scenes activity for us to know how we got to this point. According to the article, Pete Rock has allegedly demanded payment from Nas. We’re led to believe this has been going on for years. Maybe this is a last-ditch effort to avoid litigation, but to say this caught hip-hop fans off guard would be an understatement. Which brings me to my next point.
If Nas And Pete Rock Are Fighting Over Money, A Little Piece of Hip-Hop Dies.
The resounding reaction on Twitter to this news is that this must be some capital-I Industry Sh*t that is being perpetrated on Pete Rock on behalf of Nas. Fans are having a hard time believing this duo of music pioneers could have been playing nice for decades while one of them was secretly screwing the other out of payment.
Subjectively, I tend to believe the Industry Sh*t narrative. And objectively, that seems to be the most plausible explanation for these allegations. Nas was not even old enough to legally drink when Illmatic dropped, and Pete Rock was not that much older. It would be hard for me to accept that those two fully understood the contracts they undoubtedly signed to do the record.
It’s unlikely that Rock had proper auditing or accounting bargained for. It’s even possible that whatever verbal agreement Nas and Rock came to was not captured in the final written agreement, which may be the only agreement that matters.
Nas Would Do The Same Thing.
If what Rock alleges is true, as subjectively saddening as it may be to see it is objectively reasonable for him to sue to recover what he believes he’s rightfully owed.
The article states that Rock has a writing credit on “The World Is Yours.” In the world of music copyrights, the songwriters are entitled to certain exclusive rights in the underlying composition. These rights are separate from the sound recording, which is often owned wholly by the record label. If the song in question is popular, those songwriter rights can become extremely valuable. Sampling, synchronization in movies or TV shows, advertising, radio spins, and cover songs are just a few of the ways that songwriters can monetize their rights.
Songwriting credits can be shared by many authors, although how the credit is divvied up is subject to agreement. Nas and Rock could have split the credit 50/50. They could have also split it 75/25, 99/1, or any which way they agreed to. If Rock owed any significant portion of the song, he could be owed hundreds of thousands and possibly even millions of dollars.
If the allegations are true, hip-hop fans need to understand one thing: if the shoe was on the other foot, Nas would do the exact same thing.
It may also explain why Nas and Pete Rock didn’t really work together again after Illmatic.