One-time rapper Jermaine Dupri has always done his best work outside of the recording studio, whether it's as a songwriter or as a manager. According to a lawsuit filed against him by former business partner Eddie Weathers, Dupri went a little too far in managing funds.
Dupri and Weathers founded Dieniahmar Music LLC under the agreement that all profits would be shared equally between the two men (the company's title is an amalgamation of the men's three respective children). Weathers alleges that Dupri went off the grid to establish a co-publishing deal with EMI Music and keep all the profits to himself. Some of that money made its way to Weathers, but most of the income stream from EMI, which had been dealing with Dieniahmar between 2006-'13, had gone to Dupri.
The producer hired a new business manager during 2011, which caused office communications to get worse. The new manager frequently "forgot" to get Weathers his royalties payments, or only provided a fraction of what Weathers believed he was owed.
Dupri decided to sell the company to EMI Music in 2013. This decisions was somewhat a slap in the face because Dupri had been telling Weathers for years he was the sole owner of Dieniahmar, which of course Weathers has argued isn't true. Either way, Weathers let his cohort sell the business off under the impression that he would receive $238,000 for it. He claims to have only received $10,000 from Dupri.
There's no word on whether Weathers has legal paperwork that contractually defines the two men as equals within Dieniahmar's management, but that would certainly help his case.
