Playboi Carti Sued for Alleged Copyright Infringement Over 2017 Song “Kelly K”

Playboi Carti is facing legal trouble over one of his early hits.

Singer Blakk Soul, real name John Mercer Jr., has filed a lawsuit against Playboi Carti, Cash Carti Music LLC, Interscope, and Universal Music Group, claiming he was never properly compensated for his work on Carti’s 2017 song “Kelly K.”

According to the lawsuit, Blakk Soul made a deal with Carti shortly after collaborating on the track, agreeing to a 5% ownership stake. However, despite the song’s commercial success—over 8 million views on YouTube and 55 million streams on Spotify—Soul alleges that he has yet to receive a single dollar.

His legal team issued a statement emphasizing the lack of payment or accounting for what he is owed:

“Despite the commercial success of the song and the album, Mr. Mercer has yet to be compensated for his contributions to the song and has yet to receive a single dollar.”

This lawsuit is just the latest legal issue for Carti. In August, he and Universal Music Group (UMG) won a lawsuit after a lesser-known artist accused them of wrongfully removing a song from streaming platforms.

Carti has yet to publicly respond to the latest lawsuit. What are your thoughts?