The Neptunes’ Chad Hugo is suing his former production partner Pharrell Williams for $1million over alleged unpaid royalties.
Hugo’s legal representatives filed the lawsuit on Friday (January 23), in which they claim that there has been a “systematic denial” of royalties and rights to Hugo as a member of The Neptunes and N.E.R.D., with specific reference to the latter’s 2017 album ‘No One Ever Really Dies’.
“Williams engaged in self-dealing, concealed material information, and…diverted revenues owed to plaintiff,” wrote Brent J. Lehman, an attorney for Hugo (via Rolling Stone). “Such willful, fraudulent, and malicious conduct warrants the imposition of punitive damages.”
NME has contacted Williams’ representatives for comment.
It is not the first time legal issues have been raised between the two former partners – in 2024, Hugo claimed in another lawsuit that Williams was “fraudulently” seeking sole control over trademarks of the Neptunes name without consulting him.
A representative for Williams said at the time that the musician was left “surprised” by the legal action, and had no ill intent behind the trademark filings. “We have reached out on multiple occasions to share in the ownership and administration of the trademark and will continue to make that offer,” they added. “The goal here was to make sure a third party doesn’t get a hold of the trademark and to guarantee Chad and Pharrell share in ownership and administration.”
The 2024 lawsuit has not been publicly resolved.
When asked about his relationship with Hugo in 2024, Williams said: “I always wish him the absolute best.”
When pressed further on if they were still on speaking times, he replied: “No. But I love him, and I always wish him the absolute best, and I’m very grateful for our time together.”
They formed The Neptunes together in 1992 and went on to produce and write on huge hits for several major artists, including Snoop Dogg’s ‘Drop It Like It’s Hot’, Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s ‘Got Your Money’, Britney Spears’ ‘I’m A Slave 4 U’, Kelis’ ‘Milkshake’, Nelly’s ‘Hot In Herre’ and Justin Timberlake’s ‘Rock Your Body’.
N.E.R.D. formed in 1994 and saw them join up with Teddy Riley as a full band, playing rock, funk, hip-hop and beyond. They released five albums together, most recently ‘No One Ever Really Dies’ in 2017.
Elsewhere, Pharrell’s LEGO biopic Piece By Piece was released in 2024, a film that charted his rise through LEGO figures. He told NME at the time: “I was like, ‘I want to do it in Lego’.”
Speaking about director Morgan Neville, he continued: “This is an amazing experience of history for me. I can’t tell you how humbled I am to have this masterful storyteller really make sense of my life. It has always been all over the place and made sense to me but not to most. He was able to do it in colour, vividly – brick by brick, piece by piece.”
