Afeni Shakur, the mother of slain rapper Tupac Shakur, is suing Death Row Records for more than $20 million, claiming the gangsta rap-oriented label failed to pay her son royalties owed him for "All Eyez on Me" and the posthumous "The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory."
\\The lawsuit, filed in federal court in California on Friday, also asks for the return of 152 master tapes recorded by the rapper that remain in Death Row's hands. Named in the suit are Death Row and its imprisoned president, Marion "Suge" Knight, who is currently serving a nine-year term for violating probation from a 1992 assault.
\\Between $20 million and $50 million is owed to Shakur by Death Row, according to Richard Fischbein, attorney for the estate. "We have received only partial records from Death Row," he said. "We've been asking for an accounting since the day Tupac died -- and, in fact, Tupac was asking for an accounting before he died." Death Row did not return calls by deadline.
\\"All Eyez," now No. 89 on the Billboard 200, has been on the charts for 15 months and is certified seven times platinum -- meaning the double album has sold 3.5 million copies. "Don Killuminati," which was released under the name Makaveli, is No. 20 on the chart and has sold 3 million copies in the six months since its release.
\\Besides asking for royalties, the suit seeks to invalidate a handwritten 1995 contract Shakur signed with Death Row while in prison. "When Tupac was in jail in New York, Suge and his lawyer visited Tupac and said they'd put up bail if he'd sign with Death Row," Fischbein said. "Tupac fulfilled the contract because he felt he'd made a deal, and a deal is a deal. But he never got an accounting, and the contract did not mention royalty payments. They talked about it and said they'd reach an agreement later, but they never did."
\\Earlier this month, Death Row filed a $7.1 million claim against the Shakur estate that demanded reimbursement for money allegedly advanced to the rapper for cars, houses, jewelry and other expenditures, including recording and video costs. That claim was rejected by the estate because of obvious discrepancies, according to Fischbein.
\\"Included in a list of expenses were a whole series of items that we showed were false," he said. "For example, they asked for reimbursement for alimony payments to Nate Dogg's children. There were also payments for cars that were bought by people other than Tupac. That's like submitting a few of your friends' American Express bills to your boss on your expense account."
\\If Death Row wishes to pursue that cla