Bus driver and former musician Terrence Thomas is suing for rights and royalties for his production work on ‘Dear Mama’, a famous lead single included in Tupac’s third studio album, ‘Me Against The World’. According to court documents obtained by Music Business Worldwide, Thomas claims that he was “never properly and fully credited for his publishing copyright.” The bus driver alleges that producer Tony D. Pizarro conspired with Interscope and Universal Music Group to obscure his role in the track’s creation to prevent Thomas from receiving the royalties that he is owed as the co-writer of ‘Dear Mama’.
The song is one of Tupac’s most emotional tracks, and has been described by the Library of Congress as an “eloquent homage to both the murdered rapper’s own mother and all mothers struggling to maintain a family in the face of addiction, poverty and societal indifference.” The track also inspired a five-part docuseries about the rapper’s relationship with his mother, the black panther activist Afeni Shakiur, which came out earlier this year on FX. The docuseries received nominations from the Black Reel Awards for Television, the Emmys and the Grammys.
Thomas is also suing Warner Brothers, NBC, Fox, Hulu, and Disney, who have all collaborated to bring the ‘Dear Mama’ documentary series to the small screen, demanding an unspecified amount in damages and a jury trial.
Thomas cites interviews from Tupac, as well as handwritten credits written by Tupac himself, in which Terrence Thomas is named as the creator of the beat underneath ‘Dear Mama’. It remains to be seen how the case will develop, but it is clear that the case could have far-reaching implications for other artists who have been denied their fair share of credit for their work
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