Come May, Little Simz’s forthcoming studio album, Lotus, will be available across streaming platforms. While the “Gorilla” rapper’s public efforts have been on promoting the body of work, privately Little Simz’s attention focused on past projects.
According to Law360, Little Simz has quietly been in a tense legal battle with her former producer Inflo. Back in January, Little Simz reportedly sued Inflo (real name Dean Cover) for $2.2 million (£1.7 million) over outstanding monies owed to her.
In the court documents, Little Simz (real name Simbiatu Ajikawo) accused Cover of failing to repay loans totaling $2.2 million. Ajikawo says over the cover of their business relationship Cover borrowed large sums of money related to a performance and unlawfully retaining funds reserved for album recording expenses but never returned the balances to her.
Two examples outlined in the document, include matter in December 2023. Ajikawo says she loans Cover £1 to organize a show at London’s Drumsheds. Later in the month, he lent him £500,000 and an additional £200,000. According to Ajikawo, none of which were paid back.
As a result, Ajikawo says in January 2024, she was “unable to pay her full tax liability,” which has now incurred interest and other charges. When she supposedly contacted Cover’s lawyers in October 2024 about the matter they allegedly “acknowledged the debt, but wrongly attributed it to Forever Living Originals rather than Cover personally.”
Ajikawo also believe the advance for recording costs (a total advance of £2 million for three albums and £625,000 for the third album’s recording expenses) she received from AWAL was not properly accounted for by Forever Living Originals.
An alleged letter sent by Cover’s lawyers only list £524,436 in expenses, although Ajikawo claims she made two payments of £350,000 and £275,000 to Forever Living Originals’ bank account.
Inflo (Dean Cover) has not yet filed a legal response to Little Simz’ allegations.