It's unbelievable to think that it has been nearly 20 years since the world lost Ol' Dirty Bastard. The late-great New York icon is a Rap legend whose reach continues far into new generations of artists taking their seats at the Hip Hop table, but unfortunately, news surfaced earlier today (February 8) that ODB's talents are at the center of a lawsuit brought on by his widow.
Variety reports that Icelene Jones has filed a lawsuit against Wu-Tang Clan Productions, owned and operated by RZA, citing that her late husband's "estate is owed at least $1 million in unpaid royalties."
According to Jones, she alleges that from 2011 until 2021, the estate did not receive any royalties. It was in July 2021 that a check for $130K reportedly sent and "the estate also received some payments in 2019 and 2020 from Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., but the suit alleges that the combined payments are just a fraction of what is owed."
There have reportedly been repeated requests to see accounting documents but they have not been provided.
The complaint cites a 1992 recording agreement, under which ODB was to be paid 50% of net earnings on the publishing of his copyrighted songs. The members of the group were also to split 50% of net earnings from the sound recordings. The suit alleges the estate is also owed royalties on merchandising and videos.
RZA has not publicly responseded to the lawsuit at the time of this publication.
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