Pete Rock and Nas are at loggerheads. The producer has revealed his plans to file a lawsuit against the rapper for unpaid royalties from his work on his classic album Illmatic. According to Complex, Rock claims that he hasn’t been paid for contributing to the album since its 1994 release, despite having production and writing credits on “The World Is Yours,” one of the biggest songs from the album. “Nas and his people have stonewalled me since 1994,” Rock said about the matter. “My New Year’s resolution is to be compensated for my hard work on Illmatic.”
Rock’s legal team says he signed a contract that gave him a right to a portion of the royalties from “The World Is Yours,” and they now predict that the amount owed is in the millions of dollars. They also say Nas failed to uphold his end of the deal, despite numerous requests from Rock to be compensated. The lawsuit will be filed later this month, according to Complex.
In addition to being one of the more popular cuts from Illmatic, “The World Is Yours” has also been sampled in nearly 100 songs, including records by Eminem, Jay-Z, Lil Wayne, Mac Miller, Rick Ross, and more. Nas and Rock were last paired together on “The Art Of It” and “Queensbridge Politics,” which appeared on Nas’ 2019 compilation album The Lost Tapes 2.