Two Hip-Hop luminaries may soon be on opposite sides of a lawsuit.
According to Page Six, Rock is prepping legal action against rapper Nas over unpaid royalties related to his production work on Illmatic, the emcee's widely-acclaimed 1994 debut album. Rock produced/cowrote the track “The World Is Yours,” which was a major single from the album, as well.
“Nas and his people have stonewalled me since 1994,” Pete Rock told Page Six. “My New Year’s resolution is to be compensated for my hard work on Illmatic.”
Pete Rock’s legal team says that he signed a contract that would allow him a portion of the royalties from “The World Is Yours,” a total which they believe is now in the millions of dollars. They now claim that Nas has failed to honor the deal and the legal team is now preparing to file a lawsuit against Nas later this month.
In addition to his production on "The World Is Yours" — the only single on the 1994 LP to have gone gold — Rock also famously provided vocals on the hook.