Taking a trip down memory lane has gotten Nas wrapped up in a new lawsuit.
After posting a photo of him, Tupac, and Redman from July 1993 to his Instagram, Hip-Hop photographer Al Pereira filed a lawsuit against him in February for sharing it without permission or licensing the work, according to HotNewHipHop.
The popular photo was uploaded by the rap legend in 2020, which is three years after Pereira registered copyright, according to the outlet. He claims that the Instagram post took away from his work’s worth. Court documents reportedly show that Pereira “accused Nas of ‘profiting from the work’ while ‘using it to increase his social media status.'”
Nas has yet to comment on the lawsuit.
Pereira's 2017 Lawsuit
Pereira’s legal battle with Nas comes after taking Kylie and Kendall Jenner to court in 2017 for using his photo of Tupac, Biggie, and Redman for their clothing line without contacting him about it, according to TMZ.
“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 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.”
Although the apparel was taken down from the website, Kendall countersued Pereira for $22,000 to cover the legal costs for the “frivolous” lawsuit and his attempt at benefiting from her business.
At the time, Pereira had filed over 450 copyright infringement lawsuits since 2015. Now, in 2022, his recent case against Nas is yet another addition to his growing list.
