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Every day in America, it seems another person is getting rich off of suing the pants off of someone else…and rappers aren’t exempt from being sued by crazy fans and even crazier so-called “homies” and “A1’s” and “supporters.”
Whether it be a former civil rights leader taking on an Atlanta-based, recently reunited duo, or it’s a convicted street kingpin taking on the fraudulent rapper that committed a weird, SWF-type identity theft, or it’s a wild and wacky person dubbed “Mr. Lawsuit” who sued just about everybody, rappers and lawsuits go together like Beef’n’Brocs on Timberlands.

Here, then, is our list of the top 10 frivolous rap lawsuits ever filed.

Photo: WENN.com

10. Lindsay Lohan Sues Pitbull

In her prime, there were few people who were hotter than Lindsay Lohan. Of course, as we all know, drugs, sexual dissipation, and a string of failed movies have caused the 27-year-old former beauty to lose her luster. Everyone and their mother has made fun of Lindsay Lohan…but it wasn’t until Pitbull came out with “Give Me Everything” that the “Freaky Friday” star decided to do something about it in a court of law. The offending, lawsuit worthy lyric? “So, I’m tiptoein’, to keep flowin’. I got it locked up like Lindsay Lohan.” (Waaaahhhh!) The judge in the case dismissed the lawsuit on its face, saying that Pitbull and company were protected by the First Amendment.

40 Glocc Sues The Game

We can’t decide if this ongoing “fight” is real or if they’re just trolling Hip-Hop to see how outrageous & WWE-like it can really get (Author’s Note: I’m going with the latter…) Regardless, in 2012, these two reformed (?) gangsters took their fight to a place that most rappers know NEVER to go: the courts. When a fight between the two West Coast rappers was caught on tape, current VH1 starlet The Game blessed 40 Glocc (real name: Tory Gasaway) with more than a few fades. 40 Glocc then went to the courts to demand more than $4 million in damages (which, of course, was dismissed — mostly because of the existence of the video below).


8. Meek Mill Sues the Philadelphia Police Department

Meek Mill is one of those annoying people that refuses to use his inside voice, and refuses to take responsibility for any of his actions (this combination is sure to result in nothing but success for all involved…). Case in point: the time that the MMG rapper sued the Philadelphia Police Department for racism. In 2012, Meek Mill was arrested & jailed for 9 hours while the police searched his car for drugs. No drugs were found, but the arrest caused the rapper to miss performing at a show in Atlanta. Naturally, Meek blamed “racism”, and not the fact that nearly all of his songs reference dealing drugs — both in the past and in the present — for the suspicion. The jury in the case voted, unanimously, that Meek’s Fourth Amendment rights were not violated, and dismissed the Federal lawsuit outright. Meek’s response? “I quit everything, except for music. They ain’t where I’m from, I don’t really expect them to understand.” Fight the power, Meek, you rebel, you!

7. Rosa Parks sues OutKast

What happens when you name-check a hero in a classic song on a now-classic album? You get Johnnie Cochran to sue your ass. That’s exactly what happened when civil rights legend Rosa Parks took OutKast to court for the song, “Rosa Parks,” off of their classic 1999 album Aquemini. Parks sicced Cochran on the duo thanks to the line “Ah ha, hush that fuss. Everybody move to the back of the bus. Do you want to bump and slump with us? We the type of people make the club get crunk.” The recently-reunited pair settled with Parks for an undisclosed sum, and agreed to work with the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute For Self Development.

Photo Credit: WENN.com

Photo Credit: WENN.com

6. Valerie Turks Sues Diddy

Diddy can be blamed for a lot — including, ALLEGEDLY, the deaths of the Notorious B.I.G. & Tupac Shakur — but Diddy fan (??) Valerie Turks took it to a whole new level of crazy when, in 2011, she sued the mogul for $1 trillion. The reason? She claimed that the mogul aided & abetted the 9/11 terrorist attacks on NYC, causing her lost wages. In addition, she claimed that her 21-year-old son — allegedly fathered by Diddy — was threatened with bodily harm for trying to go public with his newfound parentage. The case was set to go to trial on January 31, 2011…and that’s the last anyone heard of the suit.

Photo credit: WENN.com

Photo credit: WENN.com

5. Rick Ross Sues Rick Ross

What the parole officer-turned-rapper William Roberts has done to the real Rick Ross is tantamount to identity theft…but it says a lot about the sad state of Hip-Hop affairs when folks, in general, know of the Miami pig’s (pun intended) past & still co-sign the fakery (then have the nerve to call themselves “real N-words”). In any event, Freeway Ricky Ross — a California-based drug kingpin with several Federal bids under his belt (in other words, someone who really is “about that life”) — sued William Roberts under a Federal copyright infringement statute, claiming that he stole his name to make a profit for himself. (Sounds about right.) Initially, the suit went in Roberts’ favor; the suit was later reversed to go in favor of The Real Rick Ross.

4. R. Kelly Sues Jay-Z

Technically, Solange is Jigga’s 101st problem — R. Kelly was his 100th problem. We don’t know who proposed this “dynamic duo” to go on tour in the first place (he or she was probably smoking crack), but needless to say, the failed “Best of Both Worlds” tour saw the “Trapped in the Closet” singer suing the “Big Pimpin'” rapper for an eye-popping $75 million. The lawsuit was settled for chump change, and Hov rapped about it in the remix of Snoop Dogg’s “Drop It Like It’s Hot.” (“You’re wasting your time tryin’ to sue S dot. Tell your lawyers take that civil case and drop it like it’s hot.”)

3. Lord Finesse Sues Mac Miller

Lord Finesse may be a name that means nothing to anyone born past 1991, but he was part of the legendary Diggin’ in the Crates crew (in other words, he’s someone who is, rightly, credited with being a pioneer of the very genre we’re writing about on this website). So you can imagine how well it went over when milquetoast rapper Mac Miller sampled “Hip 2 Da Game” from Lord Finesse for his hit song, “Kool Aid & Frozen Pizza”…and didn’t give the legend either his credit or a share of the profits. The song, though, was featured on a mixtape, and Mac (allegedly) never made any type of profit off of the song; nevertheless, he settled with Finesse for an “undisclosed amount.”

2. Sally Ferreira Sues 50 Cent

Dominican model & actress Sally Ferreira has appeared in a number of Hip-Hop videos (including Kanye West’s “Monster” & Lloyd Banks’ “Any Girl”), and had worked with Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson as well (including on the movie, “Gun,” which took home many awards at the NY International Latino Film Festival). So you can imagine her shock & horror when photos from a recent video shoot with the G-Unit head honcho made the rounds of the blogs, & 50 took to his Instagram to blast Ferreira, calling her “thirsty” and demanding a reshoot of the video. Curtis’ millions of followers launched an online campaign of terror against the model before he deleted the post, but it was too late: Ferreira’s lawsuit against 50 is demanding $11 million in damages. The case is, as of this writing, pending in the Southern District of NY.

1. Jonathan Lee Riches Sues Damn Near Everybody in Hip-Hop

Jonathan Lee Riches has the distinction (???) of holding the Guinness World Record for being the most litigious man in American history. He’s currently an inmate in a South Carolina jail, and since he was first incarcerated, he’s filed over 1,000 lawsuits against various celebrities, including many Hip-Hop luminaries. Amongst the insane — and somewhat hilarious — suits filed:

  • In 2007, he sued Suge Knight, claiming that he was hanging from the same balcony as Vanilla Ice (????) — in the same lawsuit, he sued Elvis Presley for stealing his sideburns (?????).
  • That same year, he sued 50 Cent, claiming that he stole his lyrics (??????) and that he forced Riches to harass 80’s pop groups Tears for Fears (“Shout”) & Bananarama (“I Heard a Rumor”) (???????).
  • In his most epic lawsuit — filed March 2006 — he named a record 57 pages worth of Defendants, including The Wu-Tang Clan, for an unspecified dollar amount, for an unspecified “civil offense.” Amongst the other Defendants: George W. Bush, Condoleeza Rice, Nostradamus (!), The Lincoln Memorial (!!), various Nordic gods (!!!), and the planet Pluto (!!!!!!!!!).

Unsurprisingly, in March 2008, the Northern District of Georgia ruled that Riches would be prosecuted if he continued to file frivolous lawsuits against celebrities. Bernadette Giacomazzo would like you to follow her on Twitter at @berngiacomazzo, and while you’re at it, follow @YungFliiboy as well, or she’ll sue you.

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