Chance The Rapper is reportedly being sued by his former manager, Pat Corcoran, for $3 million in commission according to legal documents apparently filed with the Cook County Court and reviewed by Uproxx. The docs were shared by Courthouse News Services but cannot be confirmed on the Cook County Online Case Search as of press time.
The lawsuit alleges that Chance fired Corcoran as a response to the poor reception of his “debut” album The Big Day and now refuses to honor the terms of his original management agreement with him. Pat asks for amounts due per their contract, as well as damages for breach of contract. Per the documents, Corcoran and Chance entered their agreement in 2012, with Pat helping to drive Chance’s brand to its current level of success. However, once he’d reached that level of notoriety, Chance allegedly began ignoring Pat’s management advice, unilaterally announcing The Big Day‘s release and proceeding with the rollout despite Pat’s counsel that there wasn’t enough lead time due to Chance’s upcoming wedding.
Pat claims that Chance’s decision to cancel the accompanying tour for the project was made in response to poor ticket sales and a mediocre reception for the project, which Pat says was made in a haphazard process counter to their meticulous one for previous mixtapes Acid Rap and Coloring Book. However, Chance blamed Pat for the album’s disappointment and began to replace him as his manager with his father Ken Bennett. Pat says Ken booked Chance’s appearances on Good Morning America and Ellen, digging more of a hole for the rapper and prompting Pat to cut ties — but not before demanding back pay for all the projects he helped Chance with, including merch.
Unfortunately, Pat’s agreement with Chance appears to be a “handshake deal,” meaning it’ll be hard for him to prove he’s truly owed 15% of everything. Meanwhile, Chance’s dad has already offered a $350,000 lump settlement — far short of the 15% proportion of the millions Chance has made since 2012. Pat says the amount is closer to $3 million and an account of Chance’s true income for the last eight years to prove it.
While the documents provided aren’t currently available on the Cook County system, the documents show a filing date of November 30, meaning they might just not have been digitized yet. You can review the docs as scanned and uploaded by Courthouse News Services here. Uproxx has reached out to Pat and Chance but has not received a response as of press time.
Update: Representatives for Chance The Rapper’s legal counsel have provided a statement in response. “Mr. Corcoran has filed a suit for allegedly unpaid commissions,” Chance’s representatives said. “In fact, Mr. Corcoran has been paid all of the commissions to which he is legally entitled. Most of the complaint consists of self-serving and fabricated allegations that are wholly unrelated to Mr. Corcoran’s claim for commissions and were plainly included in a calculated attempt to seek attention. Those allegations are wholly without merit, are grossly offensive and we will respond to them within the context of the litigation.”
