Rapper T.I. has filed a lawsuit against Cinq Music, accusing the company of refusing to honor an agreement that allegedly gave him the right to repurchase his master recordings at a discounted price. The legal dispute centers on a catalog deal completed in 2017, when Cinq acquired rights to much of the artist’s Atlantic Records-era music.
According to court filings, T.I., whose legal name is Clifford Joseph Harris, claims he only approved the sale after receiving a contractual option to buy back the albums later under what the lawsuit describes as “very favorable” terms. The catalog reportedly includes major releases such as “King”, “T.I. vs. TIP”, and “Paper Trail”.
The complaint alleges that after T.I. exercised the option in 2024, Cinq attempted to dramatically increase the amount owed by changing the pricing formula outlined in the original agreement. His attorney, Robert Jacobs, stated, “Cinq regretted that it had agreed to the [option terms], and, therefore … did everything it could to frustrate plaintiffs’ efforts to complete the purchase.”
T.I. argues that the agreed formula would cap the repurchase price at no more than $3 million. Instead, he claims the company returned with a demand of $52 million. The filing says, “Using these tactics Cinq sought to extract a purchase price from plaintiffs that was nearly 20 times higher than the price mandated by the parties’ agreed-upon formula.”
The lawsuit further claims the contract specifically excluded revenue from digital streaming platforms such as Spotify when calculating the sale price. T.I. contends Cinq improperly added streaming income, foreign revenue, and other sources that were not permitted under the agreement.
“Because it was common knowledge when the parties entered into the Cinq agreement in 2017 that audio streaming and video streaming via the DSPs had become the main driver of music industry growth and revenues, Cinq had ample reason to know then that the [streaming] exclusion would have a significant impact on the [price],” the lawsuit states.
Cinq Music had not publicly responded to the allegations at the time of reporting. Atlantic Records is not named as a defendant and is not accused of wrongdoing.
