Jermaine Dupri Sues Sony Music for $18 Million in Unpaid Royalties

Jermaine Dupri has filed a federal lawsuit against Sony Music Entertainment, claiming the company systematically underpaid and hid royalties connected to his work with some of the most commercially significant R&B and hip-hop acts of the last three decades. The suit, filed in Manhattan, seeks at least $18 million in damages.

The 13-page complaint alleges that an accounting audit conducted last year uncovered millions in unreported earnings tied to artists including Mariah Carey, Usher, Kris Kross, Xscape, Bow Wow, and Da Brat. In the Kris Kross case, Dupri says Sony kept royalties in a separate, undisclosed accounting system for more than twenty years. He also accuses the label of altering royalty statements for Jagged Edge’s 1997 album The Jagged Era.

“Given the systemic pattern of underreporting royalties… [Sony] has engaged in willful deceitful actions designed to harm plaintiffs in their business,” the lawsuit states. It points to at least seven contracts spanning 25 years and frames the issue as more than an isolated dispute. Dupri’s legal team indicates additional unpaid royalties from other So So Def–affiliated artists may yet surface.

The producer’s catalogue credentials are well established. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2018 and co-wrote Mariah Carey’s “We Belong Together,” which has accumulated nearly a billion Spotify streams. His productions across So So Def and other projects have generated over $200 million in gross revenue, the suit notes. Sony Music has not yet responded to requests for comment.