Nas has been named in a new lawsuit after taking a trip down memory lane.
Hip-hop photographer Al Pereira filed a complaint against him in February for releasing a shot of him, Tupac, and Redman from July 1993 on his Instagram without permission or licensing the image, according to HotNewHipHop.
According to the outlet, the rap icon published the popular photo in 2020, three years after Pereira registered copyright. He says that the Instagram post detracted from the value of his work. Pereira allegedly “accused Nas of ‘profiting from the work’ while ‘using it to increase his social media status,” according to court documents.
Nas has not yet responded to the case.
According to TMZ, Pereira’s legal battle with Nas comes after he sued Kylie and Kendall Jenner in 2017 for utilizing his portrait of Tupac, Biggie, and Redman for their clothing line without informing him.
“When deciding to work with one-of-a-kind repurposed vintage tees, it was not the brand’s intent to offend anyone,” the Jenners shared in a statement. “These designs were randomly selected and not well thought out. The brand would like to apologize, especially to the artists that have been featured in the series. We did not mean to disrespect these icons and understand that we missed the mark completely. The designs have been removed. We sincerely apologize to the artists, their families and estates, and anyone who may have been offended.”
Despite the fact that the clothing was removed from the website, Kendall countersued Pereira for $22,000 in legal fees for the “frivolous” case and his attempt to profit from her business.
Pereira had filed over 450 copyright infringement claims since 2015 at the time. Now, in 2022, his recent case against Nas adds to his expanding list of accomplishments.
