Juice WRLD managed to drop the biggest album of 2020 and also get Yellowcard to dismissed a pesky lawsuit.
A copyright infringement claim against late rapper Juice WRLD has been dropped as his posthumous success continues with him atop the Billboard charts for another week. American rock band Yellowcard has dropped their lawsuit against departed rapper Juice WRLD after deciding that they don’t want to sue his mother. Before the rapper’s death in December, the group filed a lawsuit against Juice WRLD, alleging that he reproduced “melodic elements” from their 2006 song “Holly Wood Died” in his breakout hit “Lucid Dreams” in 2018.
Mind you, Juice WRLD was only about 8 years old when that song was released from the now obsolete band. Though it would have proven difficult to continue the lawsuit after the rapper’s passing, the members of the band proceeded with the intention to still have their day in court.
At the time, their attorney claimed that they were “still digesting the news” of the rapper’s death. However, they did indicate every intention of moving forward and suing the other parties listed as defendants, namely, the record producer for “Lucid Dreams” Taz Taylor, Kobalt Music Publishing, the teenage producer and songwriter of the hit, Nick Mira, and the labels involved, including Interscope Productions and Grade A Productions, LLC.
The band has since decided to drop the lawsuit altogether. According to New York Times, the bandmembers William Ryan Key, Peter Michael Mosely, Longineu Warren Parsons, and Sean Michael Wellman-Macki were not comfortable suing the grieving successor of Juice WRLD’s estate, his mother. On Friday (July 24) their attorney Richard Busch requested a voluntary dissolution of the lawsuit on his clients’ behalf. However, the lawsuit was dismissed without prejudice, which means they can refile at any time in the future.
“My clients really were uncomfortable about pursuing this action against Juice WRLD’s grieving mother as the representative of his Estate,” Busch said in a statement. “As they said previously, they also are incredibly sympathetic about his death and were torn initially about pursuing this in light of his death. As a result of all that has happened, they simply need additional time to decide what they want to do.”
An attorney for the team behind Juice WRLD’s multi-platinum record says that they are ready to argue the case, whether it’s now or later. “Defendants were fully prepared to defend against the allegations -viewed as without merit- and remain so prepared should it become necessary,” says attorney Christine Lepera. “There was no settlement or consideration whatsoever for Plaintiffs’ voluntary dismissal.”
Yellowcard was requesting $15 million in damages and even royalty payments or co-ownership of Juice WRLD’s mega-hit song “Lucid Dreams,” claiming that it “is a blatant copy of significant original compositional elements of ‘Holly Wood Died’ in several respects.” In addition to that, they also initially sought to profit from Juice WRLD’s concert tours and other public appearances, arguing that the “overwhelming success” of the song basically catapulted his career.
On that note of a booming career, Juice WRLD’s first posthumous album Legends Never Die debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart for the week ending July 25. According to Nielsen Music/MRC Data, the rapper’s first posthumous effort was by a landslide the largest opening week of any release this year with 497,000 equivalent album units moved in its first week. Juice WRLD is only the fifth rapper ever to have a posthumous album go No. 1 on the coveted chart. This positioned the album with the biggest debut so far this year.
This marks Juice’s second No. 1 album, but hopefully, it won’t be his last. He reportedly left grosses of unreleased tracks behind that his estate will continue to release as time goes by. Juice WRLD is currently atop the Billboard Artist 100 chart as well, which measures overall artist activity from radio airplay, streaming and sales, social media fan interaction, and more. The late rapper bowed at No. 1 on this chart multiple times – first when his debut album went No. 1 in March 2019 and again after his death in December 2019.
According to Billboard, five of the songs from Juice WRLD’s posthumous album Legends Never Die charted in the top 10. The rapper now joins the likes of Drake and The Beatles as the only acts ever to achieve the feat of having at least that many tracks in the top 10 simultaneously. From his new album emerging in the top 10 on the Hot 100. Overall, 17 of the album songs emerged on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
