This past weekend, Nas was sued by well-known rap photographer Al Pereira sued Nas after the rapper posted a 1993 picture of himself with Tupac and Redman outside Club Amazon. According to HipHopDX, Nas allegedly shared the photo without permission or licensing the image. It’s a situation that many artists have found themselves in recently. In 2019, Justin Bieber was sued for sharing a photo of himself, a case that was settled for an undisclosed amount. Ariana Grande and Dua Lipa have also been sued multiple times for the same reason.
Photographers are able to file these lawsuits if they are the exclusive holder of the copyright of the photo, even if the person they are suing is in the photo. However, Snoop can’t seem to fathom how this makes any sense. In a new video he posted on Instagram, he questions the logic of it all. “How’s a mothaf*cka suing Nas for a picture that he in?” he said before adding that photographers have “lost y’all mothaf*ckin’ rabid ass mind.
“When you take a picture of a n****, that picture ain’t yours,” Snoop continued. “That’s a mere likeness-type situation. You’re borrowing my likeness. We need new laws to help us as artists, man, because it’s a bunch of mothaf*ckas selling pictures with my face on it and I don’t get sh*t ‘cause they took the picture. Can anybody help me with that? Just a basic question.”
As for Nas and Pereira’s lawsuit, the latter says the picture’s worth decreased in value since Nas posted it in 2020. Pereira also registered the photo’s copyright in 2017.
Dua Lipa is a Warner Music artist. .
