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A Florida-based record label is suing Cordae for alleged breach of contract over his upcoming joint album with Anderson .Paak.
According to a report Billboard published on Friday, October 16, MMMG Inc., a record label known as Art@WAR and owned by attorney James McMillan, has accused Cordae of breach of contract and copyright infringement for attempting to release a joint album with Anderson .Paak through different record labels. The project, Heavy Is The Crown, is set to drop October 23 via Anderson .Paak’s label, APESH!T, as well as Mass Appeal and EMPIRE. The label alleges this is not the first time Cordae has violated the terms of his contract.
“MMMG has held up its end of the bargain, including by investing enormous amounts of time, money and other resources in Cordae’s career,” the lawsuit reads. “Rather than live up to his commitments, Cordae prefers to put his head in the sand and pretend that the agreement does not even exist. This lawsuit is the direct result of Cordae’s mistreatment of MMMG.”
Cordae signed his record deal with MMMG's Art@WAR in 2018 and released two solo albums that were distributed by Atlantic Records, The Lost Boy (2019) and From A Birds Eye View (2022). The label claims the deal he signed gave them 100% ownership of Cordae’s recorded copyrights along with the exclusive rights to his merch, touring, and endorsements. The label's attorneys allege Cordae originally violated his contract by selling his own merch without sharing profits. Now the proposed joint album with Paak has “made matters far worse."
“Before filing this lawsuit, MMMG gave Defendants ample time to correct their behavior and fully compensate MMMG for the harm that they caused,” the lawsuit continues. “They failed to do so. MMMG will now vindicate its rights, and recover its damages, in court.”
The lawsuit also states that Cordae's lawyers previously argued that the artist's contract was null and void after MMMG started using Stem as a distributor in 2025. They alleged the new distributor didn't meet the requirements of their deal. MMMG says that argument has no merit. The label is suing for $25 million in damages and aims to bar the joint album from seeing the light of day.
Cordae and Anderson .Paak announced their collaborative album in August. MMMG sent a cease-and-desist immediately after the announcement was posted, but the request was ignored. The duo dropped their lead single "A Good Day" on September 16. As of this report, the album is still scheduled to drop on October 23.