A week before Cordae and Anderson .Paak release their joint album Heavy Is the Crown, the label behind the rapper’s first two albums has gone to court to stop it. Florida-based MMMG Inc. sued Cordae in New York federal court on Thursday, October 15, arguing that the exclusive recording contract he signed in 2018 still gives it sole rights to his recordings.
The album is set for October 23 through .Paak’s APESHIT imprint, Mass Appeal and EMPIRE, alongside Cordae’s own Hi Level. All three labels are named as defendants, accused of copyright infringement and of interfering with MMMG’s contract. MMMG says it sent cease-and-desist letters as soon as the project was announced in August and was rebuffed; the lead single “A Good Day” came out in September.
A dispute over distribution
The fight turns on what happened after Atlantic Records, which distributed those records, ended its deal with the label in September 2025. MMMG says it lined up a replacement with Stem inside the six-month window the contract allows. Cordae’s lawyers, according to the complaint, maintain the agreement lapsed because Stem does not meet the deal’s distribution requirements, a position MMMG calls “utterly lacking in merit.”
The label also alleges that Cordae has for years kept merch, touring and other income it says it is owed a share of. In total it wants about $25 million: at least $15 million from Cordae for breach of contract, at least $5 million from the labels for allegedly inducing that breach, and at least $5 million over “A Good Day.” It has also requested a jury trial and an order blocking further use of recordings it claims to own.
.Paak is not a defendant. Representatives for Cordae and the three labels had not commented when the suit was reported.
Image: Anderson .Paak and YBN Cordae perform at the BET Hip Hop Awards 2019 at Cobb Energy Center in Atlanta on October 5, 2019. Photo: Moses Robinson/Getty Images for BET, via Billboard.
Sources: Billboard, AllHipHop, HotNewHipHop.