A photographer is taking legal action against Nas for posting a throwback pic of himself and 2Pac to his Instagram. Fellow hip-hop legend, Snoop Dogg, who was a close friend of 2Pac early in his career, thinks the photographer is being ridiculous, saying anyone who would do such a thing is out of their “rabbit ass minds”. 

On Tuesday (March 8), Snoop Dogg shared an Instagram video of himself speaking on the situation and clowned the photographer for going after the Illmatic emcee.

“How is a muthafucka suing Nas for a picture he in?” Snoop asks in the clip. “You fuckin’ photographers done lost y’all rabbit ass minds muthafucka. When you take a picture of a n-gga, that picture ain’t yours. That’s some near likeness situation. You’re borrowing my likeness. How you gonna sue Nas for a picture that he in? We need some new laws to help us as artists, man because there’s a bunch of muthafuckas selling pictures with my face on it and I don’t get shit ’cause they took the picture.” He ends with a smirk, “Can anybody help me with that? Just a basic question.”

According to Radar, veteran photographer Al Pereira filed the suit in February, accusing Nas of sharing his photo of him, 2Pac, and Redman outside of Club Amazon in 1993 without permission or licensing the work.

Per court documents, Nas uploaded the photo to his personal Instagram account in 2020, three years after Pereira registered copyright for it. Pereira believes the worth of the photo was diminished after Nas posted it on his social media. He’s suing for damages plus an injunction against Nas for using his work.

Pereira is no stranger to suing people. In 2017, he took legal action against Kendall and Kylie Jenner for unlawful use of photographs he took of 2Pac and The Notorious B.I.G. The Jenners were attempting to use the photos as part of a clothing line. A family rep, Todd Wilson, told TMZ the lawsuit is “absurd as the sisters had nothing to do with the creation of the shirts.” While the Jenner sisters approved the design, they were relying on their brand to handle the rest. Wilson said, “It was like suing an actor for being in a movie.”

What do you think about the veteran photographer suing Nas for his Instagram post? Stay tuned for more on this and other hip-hop news.