DJ Master Tee Files Lawsuit for Alleged Copyright Infringement on Tupac's ‘Dear Mama’
One of Tupac’s most timeless hits is now the focal point of a new lawsuit filed by one of its co-producers.
Music Business Worldwide reports that DJ Master Tee made the legal filing and alleges copyright infringement against Tony D. Pizarro, Interscope, and Universal Music Group, the parent company of the former. He’s accusing the trio of entities of conspiring to withhold royalties from the Me Against the World track “Dear Mama.”
“A self-serving group, led by an upstart music producer, Tony D. Pizarro, conspired with executives at Interscope Records and Universal Music Group (UMG), misappropriated Master Tee’s publishing copyright and master recording copyright and assumed the identity of writer/publisher of Dear Mama’s music,” the lawsuit reads.
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A 1996 MTV interview with the West Coast hip-hop legend is one of the major pieces of evidence Master Tee cites in his lawsuit, during which he says, “Master Tee gave me the beat, you know, Lyte’s DJ,” he told the network. “He gave me the beat and I wrote it in the bathroom on the toilet, like on one of them early morning sit down for sessions. I just wrote it down and it came out like, like tears, you know, right?”
As a part of the lawsuit, DJ Master Tee requests compensation for the royalties he’s claiming he’s owed, damages for copyright infringement, unjust enrichment, theft of intellectual property, and the declaration that he’s both a co-writer and co-producer of the 1995 song.