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XXXTentacion's Mom Sues Late Rapper's Close Friend Who Hit Up Estate For $2 Million

Home / Exclusive / XXXTentacion's Mom Sues Late Rapper's Close Friend Who Hit Up Estate For $2 Million

By Ryan Naumann on December 23, 2019 at 2:13 PM PST

XXXTentacion’s mother has filed a lawsuit against a music producer who worked with the late rapper.

According to court documents obtained by The Blast, Cleopatra Bernard has filed suit against Stache Records and producer James H. Duval.

Earlier this year, Stache Records and Duval (aka Jimmy Duval) filed a claim against XXXTentacion’s estate. They claimed to be owed $2 million from the late rapper. XXXTentacion and Duval were close friends and worked on music together, including the song "Look At Me."

In the newly filed lawsuit, Bernard is demanding the $2 million claim be dismissed and demanding attorney fees from the producer.

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She says her son entered into a deal over the royalties which paid him 50% with Duval and another producer each getting 25%. However, she claims another artist named Mala would later claim the song stole from a track he created. A deal was worked out with Mala where he was given Duval’s interest.

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Following XXXTentacion’s death, the producer hit the estate with the money demand. He accused them of not giving him proper songwriting and producer credit.

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Bernard says the original deal does provide Duval with co-author credit. XXXTentacion mom’s says, “Defendants also allege that Duval did not receive an appropriate producer credit for his production work on the Recording. However, Defendants’ claim reveals a complete lack of understanding as to the music industry’s current mechanism for attributing producer credits. It is undisputed that the Recording was only released digitally. It is well known that, up until very recently, the vast majority of digital content providers, such as Apple Music, Spotify, Pandora, SoundCloud, etc., did not have a mechanism by which producers could be credited.”

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XXXTentacion’s mom wants the court to order the estate owes NOTHING to Duval, including royalties.

The suit is seeking, "A declaratory judgment confirming that there is no fiduciary duty owed by Onfroy to Defendants, and further that no such fiduciary duty has been breached."

In an interview with Billboard following the rapper’s murder, Duval was asked about unreleased music they worked on and he answered, "We didn’t even finish it. I don’t know. I don’t even know whose decision that would be which is kind of interesting."

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