Cordae's Album With Anderson .Paak Drops Friday. His Old Label Says It Owns It, and Wants $25 Million.

Release week is supposed to be the fun part. For Cordae, it comes with a federal lawsuit attached.

Heavy Is the Crown, his joint album with Anderson .Paak, is scheduled to come out Friday, Oct. 23. On Oct. 15, MMMG Inc., a Florida-based label, sued Cordae in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, saying it holds exclusive rights to his recordings and that the album breaks his record deal, according to Billboard and Complex. The case is MMMG, Inc. v. Cordae Dunston et al., No. 1:26-cv-09079, according to CopyrightNow.

The label is asking for at least $25 million and an injunction that would stop releases of recordings it says it owns, Complex reported. Everything below is MMMG's side, as laid out in its complaint. None of it has been decided by a judge.

Who's being sued

Cordae, whose legal name is Cordae Dunston, plus three companies: EMPIRE Distribution, Anderson .Paak's label Apeshit Inc., and Mass Appeal Records, according to the complaint as described by CopyrightNow. The 20-page complaint was filed by the firm Cohen & Gresser LLP and demands a jury trial.

Anderson .Paak himself is not named as a defendant and is not accused of any wrongdoing, Billboard reported.

What MMMG says it owns

MMMG says it signed Cordae to an exclusive recording deal in April 2018 and released his first two albums, distributed by Atlantic Records, according to Billboard. The label claims 100% ownership of his recorded copyrights, with his masters treated as works made for hire, and says it holds rights to his merch, touring and endorsements, according to Billboard and CopyrightNow.

CopyrightNow, which reviewed the filing, said the deal splits merch income 50-50 and gives MMMG 30% of what the contract calls Ancillary Endeavors.

The complaint also says Cordae has been breaking the deal for years by selling merch on his own and not sharing the profits, Billboard reported. Then, MMMG says, he "made matters far worse" by lining up a new album without the label's permission.

"MMMG has held up its end of the bargain, including by investing enormous amounts of time, money and other resources in Cordae's career," the complaint says, according to Billboard. "Rather than live up to his commitments, Cordae prefers to put his head in the sand and pretend that the agreement does not even exist."

The Atlantic-to-Stem question

This is the part the whole case turns on. According to the complaint timeline reported by Complex, Atlantic ended its distribution deal on Sept. 2, 2025. Two days later, MMMG gave notice that it had replaced Atlantic with Stem, a music distribution platform.

Cordae's lawyers have argued the contract is no longer valid because of that switch, Billboard reported. Their position, per the complaint as described by Complex, is that the contract gave MMMG six months to line up a qualified distributor, and that the Stem arrangement wasn't valid without an inducement letter from Cordae agreeing to its terms.

MMMG says that's wrong. It calls the argument "utterly lacking in merit" and says the deal "contains no requirement whatsoever" for that kind of letter, according to Billboard and Complex.

So you have two sides reading the same paperwork two completely different ways. Classic music business.

The timeline

Per the complaint, as reported by Complex: the album was announced Aug. 19. The next day, Aug. 20, MMMG sent cease-and-desist letters to EMPIRE and Mass Appeal. Billboard reported that MMMG says Cordae "rebuffed" the demand and refused to stop the album.

On Sept. 16, Cordae and .Paak released the lead single, "A Good Day," with a video directed by Dave Meyers. CopyrightNow reported that the sound recording was registered with the U.S. Copyright Office on Sept. 16 under registration number SR 1-078-770, listing MMMG as the claimant, according to the complaint.

The money

Three claims, per Complex and CopyrightNow. Count one is willful copyright infringement over "A Good Day" and the video, seeking at least $5 million, or statutory damages of up to $150,000 per work. Count two is breach of contract against Cordae over merch, touring and endorsement revenue, seeking at least $15 million. Count three is tortious interference against EMPIRE, Apeshit and Mass Appeal, seeking at least $5 million plus punitive damages.

Complex reported that more copyright claims will be added if more songs from Heavy Is the Crown are released. Which, if the release date holds, is Friday.

"Before filing this lawsuit, MMMG gave Defendants ample time to correct their behavior and fully compensate MMMG for the harm that they caused," the complaint says, according to Billboard. "They failed to do so. MMMG will now vindicate its rights, and recover its damages, in court."

The other side

Representatives for Cordae, Apeshit, Mass Appeal and EMPIRE did not immediately respond to Billboard's requests for comment on Oct. 16. As of the reports cited here, none of the defendants had filed a public response in court.

Why this matters past one album

Distributor clauses and "what happens if the major walks away" language usually sit at the back of a contract where nobody reads them. This case is about exactly that. If a label loses its major-label distribution, can it swap in a different distributor and keep the artist locked in? MMMG says yes. Cordae's lawyers, per the complaint, say not without his signature.

What we still don't know: whether a judge will grant the injunction before or after Friday, whether the album actually comes out on schedule, and what Cordae's side says when it formally answers in court. Boston Uncut will follow the docket.