Rapper 50 Cent and hip-hop diva Lil’ Kim are being sued for $2 million by a producer who claims he never received the royalties due to him over “Magic Stick.”
Perhaps “Magic Stick” was not as magical as expected, since 50 Cent and Lil’ Kim have been sued for $2 million by Staten Island rap producer Carlos Evans.
Known as Fantom of the Beat, Evans filed the suit in Manhattan Supreme Court against the two rappers as well as Atlantic Records, which released the song on Lil' Kim's 2003 album “La Bella Mafia,” and Rotten Apple which distributed “La Bella Mafia.”
Evans claims he originally produced, engineered and mixed “Magic Stick” for 50 Cent's debut album, “Get Rich or Die Tryin’” therefore Atlantic Records owes him royalties.
“I just need my money,” Evans said. “I'm not asking for nothing that I'm not owed.”
The producer said he was paid a $7,500 advance and was promised a cut of the profits, reports E! Online, but he hasn't been paid and his requests for a royalty audit have been ignored.
Theodore Sedlmayr, an attorney for Rotten Apple, told the Associated Press Thursday that there was a dispute about the royalties because the large sample Evans used for “Magic Stick” had to be licensed and paid for. This means there might not be much left for Evans.
“Atlantic is trying to get it straightened out,” Sedlmayr said. “If after the accounting Mr. Evans is entitled to anything, he'll get it then.”
The track samples Joe Simon's “It Be's That Way Sometimes.”
The Staten Island producer is convinced though that there is enough cash to go round. “That song blew up - it was the biggest song on ‘La Bella Mafia,’” Evans said. “But everybody else is getting paid and I got left out.”