Former N.W.A. Member Files Lawsuit Against Ruthless Records

Arabian Prince Former N.W.A. member Arabian Prince has filed a lawsuit against Ruthless Records claiming the company has not paid him royalties for songs he created like the one the record company licensed to Fergie for her song Fergalicious. Arabian Prince, who was born Kim Nazel, was an original member of N.W.A. and appeared on the groups first release N.W.A. and the Posse as well as Straight Outta Compton as a rapper and producer. The lawsuit which was filed on March 9 in a New York state court claims that Tamika Wright, Jerry Heller and Ruthless Records authorized the use of the beat for Supersonic on Fergie's #1 record Fergalicious, which appeared on her sophomore album The Dutchess. In 1988, J.J Fad released Supersonic, through Ruthless Records, a song which Arabian Prince wrote with four other writers, including the members of J.J. Fad. According to the lawsuit Arabian Prince owns 20% of the song. He claims that Ruthless "misrepresented that they had authority to license his portion of the composition for use in the new composition Fergalicious." He also claims that Ruthless has been collecting royalties from the sales of Fergalicious, which has sold almost 3 million copies and set records for digital downloads. Additionally, Arabian Prince claims in the lawsuit that Ruthless has yet to compensate him for the tracks he produced for N.W.A. He produced or co-produced some of N.W.A.'s biggest records including Straight Outta Compton, F*ck The Police, Gangsta Gangsta, Dopeman, Quiet On Tha Set, Something 2 Dance 2 and many others. Arabian Prince seeks damages for unjust enrichment, interference and breach of contract. Source: Yoraps