Chance The Rapper, aka Chancelor Bennett, is being sued by his former manager Pat Corcoran for over $2.5 million million, regarding allegations of breach of contract. According to the lawsuit, Bennett allegedly violated an oral agreement, wherein he allegedly agreed to pay Corcoran 15 percent of his net profits. Corcoran claims in the lawsuit that Bennett owes “over $2.5 million of unreimbursed expenses supporting and promoting Bennett’s career.” The former manager also claimed in the lawsuit that the artist’s latest album The Big Day, was “a freestyle-driven product of sub-par quality.”
The lawsuit alleges that both parties entered into an agreement in 2013, which allegedly granted Corcoran 15 percent of net profits from merchandise, tours and concerts, mixtape and album streams and sales, branding deals and endorsements and film and TV ventures. The $2.5 million stems from streaming and sales of 10 Day, Acid Rap and The Big Day, proceeds from Live Nation Touring and commissions from the performer’s participation in Netflix’s Rhythm + Flow.
Their agreement was allegedly in place until April 2020 when Bennett notified Corcoran that he was “terminating [his] engagement of Pat Corcoran and all entities controlled by Pat Corcoran.” Corcoran alleges that he was replaced by Bennett’s father Ken and brother Taylor Bennett due to “fan disappointment in Bennett’s most recent album [The Big Day] and underwhelming fan support for its associated tour.”
In the suit, Corcoran claims that he was concerned with the projected release date for The Big Day and was against announcing the release of a project before the writing and recording sessions began. It also alleges that the project wound up having “unproductive and undisciplined studio sessions,” that hurt the record’s quality. His legal representatives also claim that Corcoran pushed to postpone the tour, due to the project’s lackluster fan response.
The Big Day received some negative response from critics, but the project received a 71 out of 100 critical score on the review aggregator Metacritic. The audience response was absolutely abysmal however, receiving 3.9 out of 10 audience score on Metacritic and a 33 out of 100 on Album of The Year. According to the lawsuit, Bennett’s first three mixtapes allegedly held a more positive response due to more productive writing and recording sessions.
“Instead of acknowledging the numerous distractions and artistic compromises that inevitably resulted from the time wasted in the studio, all of which contributed to a lackluster album evidenced by historically low ticket sales, Bennett ultimately blamed Corcoran for the judgment rendered by his fan base rather than accept that his own lack of dedication had doomed the project,” the lawsuit claims.
UPDATED(12/5): Bennett’s legal team have provided their own response to these allegations, calling them ” self-serving and fabricated.” They have also stated that they will respond to Mr. Corocran’s claims through “the context of the litigation.”
“Mr. Corcoran has filed a suit for allegedly unpaid commissions. In fact, Mr. Corcoran has been paid all of the commissions to which he is legally entitled. Most of the complaint consists of self-serving and fabricated allegations that are wholly unrelated to Mr. Corcoran’s claim for commissions and were plainly included in a calculated attempt to seek attention. Those allegations are wholly without merit, are grossly offensive and we will respond to them within the context of the litigation,” the artist’s legal team wrote in a statement.
Photo Credit: Sharon Alagna
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