Tupac Estate Faces New Legal Pressure Over Royalty Claims From Producer’s Widow

A company created by the late mother of Tupac Shakur is pushing back against a lawsuit that claims unpaid royalties tied to some of the rapper’s most famous recordings, arguing the case rests on a flawed reading of long-standing contracts.

Amaru Entertainment Inc., founded in 1997 by Afeni Shakur, has asked a Los Angeles County judge to dismiss claims brought by Capucine Jackson, the widow of producer Johnny “Johnny J” Jackson. Jackson alleges she and her company are owed royalty payments connected to music her husband produced for Shakur.

The lawsuit, first filed in Los Angeles Superior Court in October 2022, seeks compensatory damages for alleged breach of contract. A third amended complaint filed Nov. 19 added Arizona-based Klock Work Entertainment Corp. as a plaintiff. Klock Work was formed in 1995 by Johnny and Capucine Jackson as an independent production company during a period of rapid growth in Hip-Hop entrepreneurship.

Johnny J was a key creative force in Shakur’s catalog, producing or co-producing tracks such as “How Do U Want It,” “Hit ’Em Up” and cuts from the album “All Eyez On Me,” according to the complaint. He entered into a producer agreement with Amaru in May 2001 that governed his royalty rights related to master recordings featuring the rapper.

Jackson contends that whenever Shakur’s successors receive royalties from those recordings, she and Klock Work are entitled to a proportional share. Amaru disputes that interpretation.

In court papers filed Monday ahead of a March 19 hearing before Judge James I. Montgomery, Amaru’s attorneys argue there are no triable issues because the relevant agreements do not support Jackson’s claims. They point to contracts from 1999 and 2001 that, they say, only require Amaru to issue letters of direction for royalties generated by sales or exploitations through Shakur’s distributor, Interscope Records or its licensees.

The dispute centers in part on royalties collected by SoundExchange, a nonprofit that began operating in 2003 and distributes digital performance royalties from online and satellite radio. Amaru maintains SoundExchange is not covered under the agreements cited by Jackson and that neither contract grants her a share of those digital performance royalties.

Shakur was killed in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas in September 1996 at age 25. Afeni Shakur oversaw his musical legacy through Amaru Entertainment until her death in 2016.

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