“>Kendrick Lamar had a stellar year with the release of his sophomore album To Pimp A Butterfly. Since the hype for the album has died down a bit, a professional photographer cooked up a way to take advantage of Lamar by serving him with a hefty lawsuit. Find out why K.dot, Aftermath, and Interscope Records are all caught up in this messy legal battle after the jump!
The photographer who took the iconic photo for the artwork used to promote Kendrick Lamar’s single “The Blacker The Berry” is suing him and his labels Aftermath & Interscope Records. Giordano Cipriani, a freelance photographer who makes his living by licensing his photos, says that there’s no record of approval to use his image as the official artwork.
According to the lawsuit filed on July 10th at the New York Federal Court, Cipriani took the photo during his time in Africa back in 2011. He claims Kendrick nor anyone from his labels sought for permission to use his photo.
Now he expects all parties to compensate him for all damages, and he’s even making them pay for his legal fees. Cipriani is seeking $150,000 for each time the image was used to promote the single. If you can count how many times K. dot has used that image all over social media and beyond, then you can only imagine how much this photographer is really going for. Seven promotional posts on social media already equals over one million dollars and some change. Do you think he’ll have his day in court? Sound off in the comments!
Check out the photo in question plus the legal documents obtained by Bossip in the gallery!
This is a bummer, but I don’t understand why you think this is strange. K dot and/or someone at the label straight up stole an image. Of course the photographer expects to be paid. His shit was stolen. You gotta pay for that shit, and unfortunately you gotta pay a lot more when you been caught stealing. That’s how the law works and you can bet Kendrick would do the same thing if someone stole his music and made it their own without asking.