Nelly has scored something of a legal victory after three former St. Lunatics bandmates have pulled out of a $50 million lawsuit against the rapper.
The St. Louis native was accused of allegedly withholding royalties over contributions the group made to his blockbuster album Country Grammar.
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However, three members of St. Lunatics — Murphy Lee, Kyjuan and City Spud — claimed they did not consent to the lawsuit and have now formally withdrawn their names from the filing, according to Billboard.
The lawsuit is now a dispute between Nelly and Ali alone, with the latter saying through his lawyer that he will “continue to pursue the unpaid royalties he is entitled to.”
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In the original complaint, St. Lunatics alleged that Nelly had “manipulated” the group into believing that they had been paid for their work on his diamond-certified debut album, but that was not the case.
The suit read: “Every time plaintiffs confronted defendant Haynes [Nelly], [he] would assure them as ‘friends’ he would never prevent them from receiving the financial success they were entitled to.
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“Unfortunately, plaintiffs, reasonably believing that their friend and former band member would never steal credit for writing the original compositions, did not initially pursue any legal remedies.”
Shortly afterwards, St. Lunatics — with the exception of Ali — joined Nelly on stage at the 2024 American Music Awards before the trio subsequently demanded they be removed from the lawsuit.
In 2023, Ali vowed he’d never perform with Nelly ever again because of money he allegedly owed the group.
“I’ll say like it could be $90,000 or $70,000,” he estimated of the money he was owed in an interview with VladTV. “When that conversation happens, I’ll get a check. It’ll be $13,000. Now you’ll be fucked up because what is this $13,000 for? You owe me $91,000.”
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He added: “What did you pay me for? At the end of it, it’s gonna be $66,000 because he’s far behind on the payments.”
The suit appears to have been ignited by Nelly selling his catalog to HarbourView Equity Partners for $50 million last year.
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In an amendment to the lawsuit, Ali is also suing HarbourView for payment and said: “At this juncture, it became apparent that, notwithstanding defendant Haynes’ repeated assurances … defendant would not fulfill his longstanding promises to compensate plaintiff.”
Nelly has yet to comment on the original lawsuit or these new developments.
