Kendrick Lamar Fights $1M Music Stealing Lawsuit, Drops Tracks With Jeezy, Flying Lotus

Maybe Kendrick Lamar is trying to tell us something. The Compton-born rapper has lent verses to not one but two new tracks, teaming with underground darling Flying Lotus on one and with Jeezy for another, dropping hotness on both of them. Meanwhile, Kendrick’s success might come with a hefty price tag, as two musicians have targeted him with a $1 million lawsuit alleging that he stole some of his older material.

Late Tuesday night, word dropped that Kendrick had teamed up with Flying Lotus for the new track “Never Catch Me,” though it’s uncertain whether that track will be appearing on a forthcoming Kendrick Lamar album or on Flying Lotus’ own forthcoming solo, You’re Dead!

“Never Catch Me” features a loopy piano-based beat over a hyper drum loop, courtesy of Flying Lotus. On top of that, Kendrick lays down some deep-minded double-time flow with his signature energy. It’s the sort of collaboration hip-hop heads have been clamoring for for a while, now, and the universe finally obliged.

Lamar and Lotus have been working together on and off, and their collaboration appears to be a fruitful one. Flying Lotus recently revealed that Kendrick has been loving the beats he’s produced, possibly to the point that Lamar wants to take all of Lotus’ beats for his own.

When he’s not snatching up all of Lotus’ beats, though, Kendrick is off working with other rap stars like Jeezy. Jeezy, like HipHopWired says, is pulling out the stops for the release of his new album, Seen It All, and that includes having Kendrick guest star on an updated version of “Holy Ghost.”

That makes two high-profile Kendrick Lamar sightings in just one day, so listeners are bound to wonder: when can we expect the next Kendrick Lamar LP?

Kendrick has confirmed that he is working on a new album, saying that it will likely be darker than his widely celebrated Good Kid, m.A.A.d. City. We’ve got a list of things we’d love to see on Kendrick’s next album, but we have to admit that we’d be willing to cross off one or two of those if it meant more spacey Flying Lotus collaborations like the one we just heard.

Of course, the thing we’d most like to see from Lamar’s next work is a release date that’s sooner rather than later. Just when we can expect that new album, though, still remains a mystery.

Kendrick’s rapid rise to prominence in the rap game hasn’t come without a price, though. The “Swimming Pools” rapper is now the target of a multimillion dollar lawsuit. The Onion’s A.V. Club reported on Wednesday that musicians Eric Reed and Willie Jones III accuse Lamar of appropriating their 2010 track “The Thorn” to supply the beat for his 2011 track “Rigamortis.”

Oh, you haven’t heard “Rigamortis”? Go ahead and listen. We’ll wait. It’s worth it.

In any case, Reed and Jones say that Jones simply raps over their track.

“‘The Thorn’ isn’t merely part of ‘Rigamortis,'” they allege in their suit against Lamar, “IT IS ‘Rigamortis.'”

The two musicians are seeking at least $1 million in damages, as well as all profits from “Rigamortis” and the rights to the song. Representatives for Lamar have not commented on the matter.