AceShowbiz - T.I. has initiated legal action against Cinq Recordings, alleging the label is demanding an unjust $52 million price for his own music catalog, despite a contract clause that sets the buyback price at roughly $3 million.

The situation traces back to 2017 when Cinq Recordings acquired the entire Atlantic Records catalog of T.I. This catalog includes seven albums: Trap Muzik, Urban Legend, King, T.I. vs. T.I.P., Paper Trail, No Mercy, and Trouble Man.

T.I. consented to the sale under the condition that his company, Grand Hustle, would retain a buy-back option. This option allowed Grand Hustle to repurchase the catalog later at a price determined by a predefined formula. Specifically, the price would be 12 times the net profits the catalog generated during a designated one-year period.

Grand Hustle exercised this buy-back option in September 2024, adhering to the agreed timeline. However, after six months of silence from Cinq Recordings, and following a demand letter from T.I.’s legal team, the label finally responded with a price quote in March 2025: $52 million.

The lawsuit contends that Cinq Recordings disregarded the contractual formula entirely. It alleges that the label improperly included revenue streams that the contract explicitly excludes—such as streaming license fees from services like Spotify and Apple Music—as well as earnings from outside the United States. Simultaneously, the label reportedly reduced the royalties it was required to subtract, which inflated the final price.

According to the complaint, applying the formula as agreed would set the buy-back price between $2.4 million and $3 million, a figure drastically lower than Cinq’s demand.

One striking aspect highlighted in the lawsuit is that Cinq Recordings drafted the contract themselves, including the pricing formula. The complaint asserts they are now refusing to honor the terms they established when the calculated price turned out unfavorably low.

The suit accuses Cinq of attempting to "extract a purchase price from Plaintiffs that was nearly 20 times higher than the price mandated by the parties’ agreed-upon formula." It also notes that Cinq appended a legal disclaimer to their price calculation, which the lawsuit claims is an admission that the company recognized its own miscalculation.

Beyond seeking monetary relief, T.I. and Grand Hustle are asking the court to compel Cinq Recordings to sell the catalog at the price dictated by the contract.

This ongoing dispute underscores the complexities artists can face when attempting to reclaim ownership of their master recordings, especially when contractual terms are contested.