In July 2020, Atlanta rap trio Migos filed a lawsuit against their former lawyer Damien Granderson, claiming that he “stole and cheated [them] millions of dollars. Among the allegations in the lawsuit was that Granderson intentionally delayed the release of the group’s 2017 LP Culture, which cost them potential profit and that he practiced law without a California license for five years. Now, six months after the original filing, Migos withdrew from the process, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
According THR, as well as court documents seen by Pitchfork, Migos filed for voluntary dismissal from the action without prejudice in November. Today (2/3), they filed another resignation, at a loss.
The claims in the original lawsuit involved an alleged conflict of interest on the part of Granderson. Migos stated that Granderson never revealed that he worked with Quality Control Management (QCM), before starting to work with him in 2014 (the trio had signed a contract with QCM the previous year). At the time of the initial allegations, Migos and his lawyers wrote that “from the beginning of his representation of Migos, Granderson planned and planned to betray his clients so that he could look after himself and QCM, regardless of the consequences and ramifications for Migos. “
In the complaint, Migos and his attorneys also alleged that Granderson delayed the release of Culture when he “orchestrated a legal dispute with 300 Entertainment in an attempt to facilitate the move to a different record company, Capitol Records.” (Migos’ first two albums – 2015 Yung Rich Nation and 2017 Culture– were launched by QCM and distributed over 300, but the group Culture II was distributed by Capitol.)
After the 2020 process, Quality Control CEO Pierre Thomas responded to the allegations on social media, writing that the company “always practiced honest business and total transparency from the beginning, when we started Quality Control Music”.
Pitchfork contacted representatives from Migos, Damien Granderson and Davis Shapiro for additional comments.