It has been long said that the music industry is just modern day take on pimps and hoes. Record labels front monies that have to be paid back in sales before an artist can recoup one red cent—a bank loan with a messed up interest rate of sorts. Even with those standard contracts in place, some go the extra lengths to take advantage of their artists.
Many urban acts have flaunted a life of opulence through their records and videos only to cry robbery from their record labels years later. So if you are trying to become the next biggest recording artist or have always been interested in the inner workings of entertainment, be forewarned this is a very rough business—so get a great lawyer, not affiliated with the record label.
In the following pages you’ll find the 9 biggest crooks of the Rap industry, allegedly. Let us know who you thought was the shadiest in the comments.
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Perri “Pebbles” Reid
As portrayed in CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story, TLC signed a contract Pebbles never let them even read through. She also appointed them her same lawyer which was a big conflict of interest. The group was left with only a couple of thousand dollars each after selling millions of albums.
Joe Weinberger
To this day 2 Live Crew can’t perform or do anymore music due to a contractual bind they are in with their former lawyer and Lil’ Joe Records CEO Joe Weinberger.
Eric “Eazy-E” Wright & Jerry Heller
Both Eazy-E and Jerry Heller stuck true to the Ruthless Records name with very shady contracts that took a huge portion of N.W.A.’s publishing. This is turn led to Ice Cube (and Dr. Dre) leaving the group and their infamous war on wax.
Marion “Suge” Knight
Snoop Dogg has yet to paid for his work for writing “Deep Cover”. Also he signed 2Pac to a contract written on toilet paper in exchange for his 1.4 million dollar bail to be posted. Shakur’s mother later sued Suge and Deathrow for unpaid royalties
Tommy Boy Records has been the home to several greats including Naughty By Nature, Queen Latifah and others. N.O.R.E later then would admit that Tommy wasn’t very fair to his artists as with when Penalty Records folded and Tommy Boy absorbed Capone-N-Noreaga. Hence the permanent name change from Noreaga to N.O.R.E. and the infamous “and f— Tommy Boy, them ni—s just suck”.
Antonio “LA” Reid
Before his judging duties on X Factor, LA Reid ran one of the most successful homes to urban music with LaFace Records. It was there that Toni Braxton said she signed a slave contract that would lead her to bankruptcy even though she had sold over 30 million records worldwide.
