He claims to have lost a 42% stake in his catalogue


Chuck D is taking legal action against his record label after claiming that they cheated him out of over one million dollars.

The Public Enemy frontman, whose real name is Carlton Douglas Ridenhour, is reportedly taking Reach Global Music and Terrodome Music Publishing to court with the aim to take back control of his back catalogue.

According to documents obtained by TMZ, Chuck accuses the company of taking advantage of his lack of business insight and subsequently stealing the large sum of earnings.


Said to have signed his deal with Reach and Terrodome back in 2001, according to TMZ, Chuck claims that his label “created a complex master plan” to hide the money from him. In the suit, the rapper states that he only became aware of this in February of this year, having discovered documents that were used to defraud him.

Chuck claims he has lost a 42% stake in his music catalogue as a result and is seeking $1 million in damages from the labels. He’s also asking for full ownership of his material.

HotNewHipHop reports that the artist claims that deceptive transactions were made in an effort to hide his money, along with fake copyright registrations.

Meanwhile, Chuck D recently returned to the stage with Prophets Of Rage. The group performed at Madrid’s Mad Cool festival earlier this month, where they played recent single ‘Made With Hate’ for the first time.