Rodney O Sues Future, Kendrick Lamar, Metro Boomin Over Unpaid 'Like That' Royalties
Rodney O is suing Kendrick Lamar, Future, and Metro Boomin over unpaid royalties from the explosive diss track, 'Like That.'
The 'Everlasting Bass' rapper filed the complaint on Wednesday (May 7) and spoke with TMZ about why he chose to sue all parties involved. He claimed that Epic Records reached out to him a week before the record was released, but the version he heard only had Future on it.
'I didn't even know Kendrick was on it until a day before when somebody called and said, 'I heard Kendrick is on that record,'' the 57-year-old stated. 'And I said, 'No I have the record. He's not on there and the song was like two minutes.' Rodney alleged that the song he was sent was the one intended for release and was told that only Future and Metro's teams were allowed to hear the Kendrick version.
However, with him owning the rights to 'Everlasting Bass' — which the diss track samples — Rodney felt, 'You gotta let me hear it so I can say yay or nay.'
He continued, 'Now everyone would want Kendrick on their song. I understand that, but say I was cool with Drake. Give me that option to say yay or nay […] They just dropped the ball and is not giving us any type of respect. That's cold to do that to old school artists. They came to me; I didn't go to them. I didn't tell them to use my record.'
To make matters worse, Rodney is upset about being left off the Grammy nominations.
'So, to come to me, take my record, make all this money, out on tour, do this and that and act like we're not apart of it? Even left me off the Grammy nominations. How can you do that? No respect at all and that's how a lot of old school artists get treated […] At a time when I should be celebrating, I don't even want to hear the record,' he explained.
Rodney filed another complaint against Barry White's estate, who first filed a copyright infringement suit against him.
'The song's been out for 35 years and [there's] never been an infringement claim […] We don't know where this came from,' he explained. He believes White's estate made the motion once Future, K. Dot, and Metro sampled 'Everlasting Bass' on 'Like That' and thinks it's all a cash grab.
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