Jermaine Dupri built So So Def into one of the most influential imprints in hip-hop and R&B history — Kris Kross, Da Brat, Xscape, Jagged Edge, Bow Wow, J-Kwon, Bone Crusher, plus his production fingerprints all over Mariah Carey and Usher’s biggest eras. Now JD says the label that helped make him a mogul has been quietly shorting him for decades.
Dupri, along with So So Def Recordings and So So Def Productions, filed suit against Sony Music Entertainment this week in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, alleging the record company underpaid royalties and breached contracts governing a decades-long business relationship. The complaint seeks more than $18 million in damages, plus prejudgment interest, attorneys’ fees, and other relief, and Dupri’s side is demanding a jury trial. Per Billboard, which obtained the filing directly, Dupri and So-So Def Recordings accuse Sony of a “systemic pattern” of using “contemptuous accounting practices” to underpay royalties for many years.
This isn’t a beef over a bad accounting cycle. “So-So Def had a 32-year contractual and business relationship with SME,” Dupri’s lawyers write. “As it turns out, many of SME’s dealings with So-So Def have not been lawful and have harmed So-So Def in its business.”
The Roots of the Relationship
For readers who need the backstory: Dupri is the son of former Columbia Records executive Michael Mauldin, and he founded So-So Def in 1993 as a joint venture with Columbia and Sony, where he went on to sign Xscape, Bow Wow, Da Brat and others. That joint-venture partnership ended in 2002, and after several more years operating through Sony imprints, So-So Def eventually moved between EMI, UMG and other distributors. Dupri himself, of course, is the writer/producer behind Kris Kross’s 1992 smash “Jump,” and built a decades-long run helming hits for Carey, Usher, Nelly and others — he also released two studio albums of his own, featuring collaborations with Jay-Z and Ludacris.
The Kris Kross Bombshell
The sharpest allegation in the filing centers on Kris Kross. Dupri alleges Sony never reported producer or override royalties tied to the group’s first two albums, Totally Krossed Out and Da Bomb, until 2023.
When Dupri’s team started asking questions, Sony claimed it did not know those royalties had never been reported. The complaint doesn’t let that fly, alleging Sony “deceptively” placed Kris Kross royalties in a separate accounting system — language echoed elsewhere in the filing as an outright concealment claim. The lawsuit says Sony gave Dupri’s side Kris Kross royalty statements in 2023 and 2024 showing more than $30 million in foreign sales, yet still refused to pay at least $2.2 million tied to those records.
Xscape’s “Unfathomable” Balance and Da Brat
The complaint devotes serious real estate to Xscape’s accounting. Dupri accuses Sony of improperly “cross-collateralizing unrecouped account balances” to avoid paying out, claiming the label still insists the girl group has more than $1.5 million in unrecouped advances decades after their albums were released. His lawyers don’t mince words: “It is unfathomable that Xscape’s royalties were insufficient to recoup the entirety of Xscape’s advances on [their early albums] — both albums were certified platinum by the RIAA — let alone to leave such a staggering unrecouped balance 25-30 years later.”
The lawsuit also says that same account generated over $1 million between 2020 and 2024, but So So Def never saw those payments because Sony kept applying the old negative balance against incoming money — a pattern, the suit argues, not a one-off. Separately, the complaint says Sony underreported more than $960,000 in producer royalties from Xscape’s 1993 debut Hummin’ Comin’ At ‘Cha, and withheld more than $1 million in producer royalties from Da Brat’s 1994 album Funkdafied.
Jagged Edge isn’t spared either. Dupri’s suit alleges Sony tried amending royalty statements for Jagged Edge to cover past underpayments only after the fact, and per earlier reporting, those amended statements only corrected figures going back to 2007, leaving earlier money unaccounted for.
Notably, Billboard’s filing review also flags that royalties tied to Mariah Carey, Usher, Bow Wow and others have been “understated” to an unknown extent, suggesting the scope of the alleged shortfall may extend beyond the specific dollar figures broken out in the complaint.
The Audit That Started It All
According to the filing, the case was triggered by a 2025 desk audit conducted by accounting firm Gelfand, Rennert and Feldman, which allegedly surfaced the full scope of the problem. Dupri’s legal team is direct about intent: “SME knew that it was violating the contracts with the Plaintiffs and never attempted to disclose its contemptuous accounting practices to the Plaintiffs.”
The numbers at stake are steep — the $18 million figure includes more than $10 million in interest, underscoring how far back the disputed accounting allegedly stretches. The complaint also frames Dupri’s broader business impact, noting his So So Def work and production deals helped create more than $200 million in gross revenue over three decades.
Where It Stands
As of this writing, Sony has not yet publicly responded to the filing. So So Def’s legal team is pushing for a jury trial, the full $18 million, interest, attorneys’ fees, and any other relief the court sees fit to grant.
For an architect of the So So Def sound, this lawsuit isn’t just about money owed — it’s a public reckoning over how major labels account for decades-old catalogs in an era where old records keep generating new revenue long after their release dates.
RapIndustry.com will continue to track this story as Sony responds and the case moves through the Southern District of New York.
