2Pac's 1995 hit "Dear Mama" is at the center of a new lawsuit.
According to a report from Music Business Worldwide, DJ Master Tee, who's credited as a co-producer on the iconic song, has filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against producer Tony D. Pizarro, Interscope, and parent company Universal Music Group.
DJ Master Tee, who says he co-wrote and co-published the Me Against the World track, is accusing Pizarro and the record labels of conspiring to withold royalties from the three-times Platinum hit.
“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 read.
The lawsuit cites a 1996 MTV interview in which 2Pac shed light on the creation of “Dear Mama."
“Master Tee gave me the beat, you know, Lyte’s DJ,” Tupac told MTV. “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?”
Master Tee is requesting to be compensated for the royalties he's allegedly owed, as well as damages for copyright infringement, unjust enrichment, and theft of intellectual property. In addition, Tee is demanding a judge to declare that he's both a co-writer and co-producer of the song.
