Pop Smoke's posthumous album Shoot For The Stars, Aim For the Moon is about to go double platinum.
One of the project's "featured" artists wasn't paid for her work and is seeking $1.5 million.
Shortly before his death, Smoke did an interview with Victoria Inoyo at Rolling Loud.
Before Shoot For The Stars dropped, Smoke's label Victor Victor Worldwide reached out to Inoyo and tried to buy the rights to the interview for a dollar. Inoyo didn't sell and copyrighted the interview.
Nevertheless, the label still used 16 seconds of the interview on the "Tunnel Vission (Outro)," a 2-minute 12-second track.
““To the shock and chagrin of Ms. Inoyo, the label used the interview without Ms. Inoyo’s consent, or permission, and without compensating her on the track ‘Tunnel Vision (Outro).' The label knew that it did not have Ms. Inoyo’s permission to use the interview; yet, rather than negotiate with Ms. Inoyo in good-faith in order to obtain her permission to use the interview, the label inexcusably and unjustifiably used the interview and released the album and the song for commercial distribution in violation of, among other things, Ms. Inoyo’s copyrights and her intellectual property,” Inoyo's lawyer Andrew Williams explained.
For this copyright infringement, Inoyo wants $1.5 million in damages, credit as a writer, and a percentage of the publishing income earned from Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon.
No word from Smoke's estate on the lawsuit.