THE BIG STORY: Nelly’s “Hot in Herre.” Snoop Dogg’s “Drop It Like It’s Hot.” Gwen Stefani’s “Hollaback Girl.” Justin Timberlake’s “Rock Your Body.” If you can think of an infectious pop song from the mid-2000s (personally, I’m visualizing a college basement) there’s a decent chance it was produced by The Neptunes, the legendary duo of Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo.
But as happens all too often in the music industry, that lucrative partnership has now, decades later, devolved into a legal battle over money.
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In a lawsuit filed last week, Hugo accused Williams — his friend since their Virginia childhoods — of committing “willful, fraudulent, and malicious conduct.” He says he’s been essentially cut out of their joint company, and that Pharrell could owe him as much as $1 million from an N.E.R.D. album.
For all the details, go read our full story – featuring a full breakdown of the case, a response statement from Pharrell, and access to the actual legal documents Hugo filed in court.
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Other top stories this week…
-Drake filed his hotly-anticipated appeal seeking to revive his lawsuit against Universal Music Group over Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us,” arguing that a judge’s ruling dismissing it was “dangerous.”
-Wixen sued Meta over claims that the social media giant wants to “drastically cut payments to human songwriters” and replace them with A.I. music – and that it’s now retaliating by smearing Wixen.
-Nicki Minaj finally paid $500,000 to a concert security guard allegedly assaulted by her husband in 2019, avoiding a court-ordered sale of her Los Angeles area mansion to satisfy the judgment.
-Zac Brown scored a court ruling forcing his ex-wife, model and actress Kelly Yazdi, to return confidential business records she took amid her divorce from the Zac Brown Band frontman in 2024.
-Spotify and the big three music companies teamed up to sue Anna’s Archive, a so-called shadow library that they say copied “nearly all of the world’s commercial sound recordings” without permission.
-Elsewhere in Spotify litigation, the streamer fired back at a class action lawsuit claiming its Discovery Mode is a “modern form of payola,” arguing that its users waived the right to sue.
-A former Marilyn Manson assistant has again seen her sexual assault lawsuit against the controversial rock star revived in court, thanks to a new California law allowing for years-old abuse cases.
-Fugees rapper Pras Michel lost a bid to stay out of prison while he appeals his 14-year prison sentence for illegal foreign lobbying, but he did win a two-month reprieve.
-R&B singer Trey Songz filed a lawsuit against the Kansas City Police Department over his 2021 arrest at an NFL game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills.
-Slipknot decided to drop a lawsuit seeking to take over the web address for its name after the site fought back by arguing that it was the “lawful and long-time” owner of the address.
-Want to know how much you’ll be earning per stream under your new record deal? Top music law firm Manatt, Phelps and Phillips has a new royalty calculator to help figure it out.
-An Italian photographer has dropped a lawsuit that claimed Drake stole a key motif in the music video for his hit summer single “What Did I Miss?”
