SNOOP DOGG - SNOOP DOGG CONFRONTS RECORD LABEL IN COURT

SNOOP DOGG CONFRONTS RECORD LABEL IN COURT

Rapper SNOOP DOGG is suing his former record label for unpaid royalties. The hip-hop star - real name CALVIN BROADUS - filed his complaint against Priority Records in Los Angeles Superior Court, claiming he's owed more than $2 million (GBP1.02 million) in back payments for hit albums including PAID THA COST TO BE DA BOSS, THA LAST MEAL and DA GAME IS TO BE SOLD, NOT TO BE TOLD. According to AllHipHop.com, Broadus singled out record giant EMI for cheating artists out of their wages after buying a 50 per cent stake in Priority Records in 1996, and the remainder two years later (98). The label has subsequently stopped running as an independently managed company, with operations merged into EMI's major US subsidiary, Capitol Records. Broadus fumes in his lawsuit, "Apparently, since EMI has taken over the running of Priority from (founder) BRYAN TURNER, the once somewhat artist-friendly label has decided to make up for a downturn in the industry by failing to honour the contracts made with its hip-hop artists while Turner was at the helm." The rapper quit the label in 2002.