Jermaine Dupri sues Sony Music for $18 million in unpaid royalties
TheGrio...
The So So Def founder claims the music giant underpaid artists including Mariah Carey, Usher, Xscape, Bow Wow and Da Brat over decades.
Jermaine Dupri and his So So Def Recordings filed a lawsuit against Sony Music Entertainment in Manhattan federal court on Tuesday, July 7, seeking more than $18 million in damages and accusing the company of deliberately underpaying royalties across a 32-year business relationship.
The complaint, obtained and first reported by Billboard, names Mariah Carey, Usher, Kris Kross, Xscape, Bow Wow, Da Brat, Jagged Edge, J-Kwon, and Bone Crusher among the artists whose royalties Dupri says were “understated” by Sony. The suit also accuses the company of a “systemic pattern” of “contemptuous accounting practices” and alleges Sony hid certain royalties in separate accounting systems and amended old statements to conceal how much it had withheld.
“As it turns out, many of SME’s dealings with So So Def have not been lawful and have harmed So So Def in its business,” Dupri’s lawyers write. TheGrio covered Jermaine Dupri’s remarks at the 2026 Culture Creators Awards brunch during BET Awards week, where he urged Black creators to take ownership of their work. TheGrio also reported on So So Def Recordings’ multi-year partnership deal with Create Music Group in 2024, under which the label’s recordings, publishing, and back catalog changed hands.
The sharpest claim in the filing involves Kris Kross. Dupri alleges Sony never reported producer or override royalties from the duo’s first two albums, “Totally Krossed Out’ and “Da Bomb,” until 2023, and that more than $2.2 million is still owed from those records alone. He says Sony kept a Kris Kross royalty account hidden from his side that generated over $1 million between 2020 and 2024 while So So Def received nothing.
Dupri’s lawyers also argue it is “unfathomable” that Xscape’s early platinum-certified albums could still carry a $1.5 million unrecouped balance 25 to 30 years later. Da Brat’s platinum debut “Funkdafied” is similarly listed as unrecouped. The full $18 million figure includes more than $10 million in interest. Dupri’s team says the full scope only emerged after a 2025 audit by accounting firm Gelfand, Rennert and Feldman. He is demanding a jury trial and attorneys’ fees.
Sony has not publicly responded.