Nelly is being sued by former St. Lunatics group members for copyright infringement, alleging uncredited and unpaid contributions to his 2000 debut album, Country Grammar.

Nelly and the St. Lunatics, childhood friends from St. Louis, MO, began writing songs together in the mid-90s. According to reports, the complaint filed on Wednesday (Sept. 18) alleged that Nelly, born Cornell Haynes, repeatedly "manipulated" them into believing they would be compensated for their contributions to the 2000 album, which spent five weeks at the top of the Billboard 200.

“Every time plaintiffs confronted defendant Haynes [he] would assure them as ‘friends’ he would never prevent them from receiving the financial success they were entitled to,” the lawsuit stated. “Unfortunately, plaintiffs, reasonably believing that their friend and former band member would never steal credit for writing the original compositions, did not initially pursue any legal remedies.”

The group members are frequently listed as co-writers in the public credits for several songs on Country Grammar. However, the lawsuit added that they contributed to more songs than are reflected in the credits, including “Steal the Show,” “Thicky Thick Girl,” “Batter Up,” and “Wrap Sumden.” Notably, they point out that the title track “Country Grammar,” which peaked at No. 7 on the singles chart, credits only Nelly and producer Jason Epperson in public databases.

They said that during and after the album’s recording session, Nelly “privately and publicly acknowledged that plaintiffs were the lyric writers” and “promised to ensure that plaintiffs received writing and publishing credit.” Decades later, in 2020, the St. Lunatics members say they “discovered that Nelly had been lying to them the entire time.”

“Despite repeatedly promising plaintiffs that they would receive full recognition and credit… it eventually became clear that defendant Haynes had no intention of providing the plaintiffs with any such credit or recognition,” the suit continued.