NASHVILLE (CelebrityAccess) DMV native and the man behind the summer hit “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” Shaboozey, is now embroiled in a legal battle with Warner Chappell Music (WCM), accusing the company of thwarting his attempts to exit his contract early. The country star, whose real name is Collins Obinna Chibueze, filed a lawsuit on August 21st in Los Angeles, claiming that Warner-Tamerlane (Warner), a division of WCM, is preventing him from utilizing an acceleration clause in his publishing administration deal.
According to Shaboozey, this clause allows him to repay 110% of his advances to expedite the end of his contract. With the immense popularity of “A Bar Song,” which has spent six weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, Shaboozey’s legal team argues that it’s no surprise he would want to invoke this clause. However, they claim Warner has yet to inform him of the amount he needs to repay.
“To date, Warner has refused to disclose to plaintiff the total amount of the unrecouped balance of prior advances it made,” stated Todd Bonder, Shaboozey’s attorney. Bonder argues that Warner’s refusal violates the administration agreement between the two parties.
The legal dispute comes during a breakout year for Shaboozey, whose genre-blending track “A Bar Song” mixes elements of J-KWON’s 2004 rap hit “Tipsy” with pop-country vibes. In addition to WMC, Shaboozey is also suing his former record label, Kreshendo Entertainment. He claims that Kreshendo, which he left in 2019 to sign with Empire, is why Warner has not provided him with the necessary information to repay his advances.
The lawsuit centers on Shaboozey’s assertion that he took over Kreshendo’s role in the contract with Warner after terminating his deal with the label. However, Warner has allegedly not agreed with this interpretation. The suit further claims that Kreshendo released three of Shaboozey’s songs—“More,” “Joan Jett,” and “Prosperity”—in 2019 without his permission after he had already ended his contract with the label.
In response, Kreshendo has filed suit against Shaboozey, according to TMZ, accusing him of fraud. The record label states they let him out of his contract in 2019 … with conditions. Kreshendo claims his exit deal still allowed the company to college money on his musical compositions and that Shaboozey knew about that little piece of information. Kreshendo is seeking over $2M from the rapper.
To be continued …
