1990s Rap Group Home Team Files Copyright Suit Against Jermaine Dupri and Jacquees

Jermaine Dupri and Jacquees are at the center of a federal copyright lawsuit brought by brothers Patrick and Van Watler of the ’90s Miami rap duo Home Team, who allege the artists’ 2023 “Pick It Up” infringes their 1992 composition of the same name. 

More than three decades after Miami rap duo Home Team told listeners to “Pick It Up,” the group says
Jermaine Dupri and Jacquees picked up too much.

Brothers Patrick and Van Watler have sued Dupri, Jacquees and Mass Appeal Media Inc. in federal court, alleging the 2023 Jermaine Dupri single “Pick It Up,” featuring Jacquees, infringes their 1992 song of the same name.

The lawsuit, filed Sept. 21 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, alleges the newer recording copies protected lyrics and musical elements from Home Team’s song without permission.

Neither the allegations nor the songs’ shared title establishes copyright infringement, and the court has not ruled on the Watlers’ claims. The defendants had not filed a substantive response to the complaint as of Tuesday.

The dispute reaches back to Miami’s early-1990s rap scene.

Home Team released its “Pick It Up” through Luke Records, the label founded by Luther “Uncle Luke” Campbell and closely associated with the rise of Miami bass. Campbell was credited as an executive producer on the duo’s 1992 album, “Via Satellite From Saturn.”

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Home Team — “Pick It Up” (1992)

The Luke Records single at the center of Patrick and Van Watler’s copyright lawsuit was released more than three decades before Jermaine Dupri and Jacquees’ recording of the same name.

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The song reached Billboard’s Hot 100 in December 1992, peaking at No. 90. It also appeared on Billboard’s R&B and rap charts.

Federal copyright records identify Patrick and Van Watler as the writers of the composition’s words and music. The work, registration No. PA0000858142, is listed as having been created in 1992, published Aug. 4 of that year and registered in 1997. Lil’ Joe Wein Music Inc. is identified as the copyright claimant in the registration record.

The lawsuit gives a slightly different date, saying Home Team released the song on or around July 3, 1992.

Thirty-one years later, Dupri released another “Pick It Up,” featuring Jacquees.

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Jermaine Dupri feat. Jacquees — “Pick It Up” (2023)

Jermaine Dupri featuring Jacquees, “Pick It Up.” Official video via Jermaine Dupri/Mass Appeal.

The 2023 recording was produced by Dupri and Bryan-Michael Cox and released through Mass Appeal. Its official video features Dupri and Jacquees moving through Atlanta locations while Jacquees handles the record’s sung vocals.

The Watlers contend the similarities go beyond the title.

Their complaint alleges the newer “Pick It Up” reproduces protectable elements of Home Team’s lyrics and melody or harmony. It says the defendants did not seek or receive a license, permission or clearance to use the earlier composition.

The lawsuit, however, does not identify in its 12 pages the particular lyric, melodic phrase or harmonic passage the brothers contend was copied.

Instead, the Watlers allege that the two works are substantially similar and say the defendants have profited from the newer recording.

The complaint alleges, on information and belief, that the defendants have earned hundreds of thousands of dollars from sales, streaming, licensing and other exploitation of the 2023 song. It does not provide royalty statements or other financial records supporting that figure.

The brothers are asking for considerably more than a single damages award.

Their complaint seeks an accounting of revenue connected to the newer song, songwriter credit and publishing percentages, as well as damages, attorneys’ fees and an injunction.

The prayer for relief asks for more than $150,000 in what the lawsuit describes as general damages and more than $150,000 in special damages. It also requests statutory damages under federal copyright law and additional relief against Mass Appeal.

The Watlers further want Dupri, Jacquees and the other defendants to recognize them as writers of the allegedly infringing material and to direct third parties under their control to update the song’s credits accordingly.

They have requested a jury trial.

The case is Watler et al. v. Mauldin et al., No. 1:26-cv-26546, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Summonses were issued Sept. 22 for Dupri, whose legal name is Jermaine Dupri Mauldin; Jacquees, whose legal name is Rodriguez Jacquees Broadnax; and Mass Appeal Media.

Stevie Wonder Unearths Four Unheard Songs From ‘Songs in the Key of Life’ Sessions

Stevie Wonder performs at the White House in Washington on Feb. 25, 2009. Wonder marked the 50th anniversary of his landmark 1976 album, “Songs in the Key of Life,” on Monday by releasing four previously unheard recordings from the album’s original sessions. (Pete Souza/Official White House Photo)

Fifty years after Stevie Wonder finished "Songs in the Key of Life," he has gone back into the vault to show there was even more music in the key.

Wonder marked the landmark album's 50th anniversary today by releasing four previously unheard recordings from its original sessions, offering a new glimpse into one of the most celebrated creative periods in popular music.

"It's Easier," "My Life Story of Love," "I Can See the Sun In Late December" and "I'm Into Livin'" make up the new four-song "Songs in the Key of Life" EP.

All four were recorded during the sessions for the sprawling double album, which was released Sept. 28, 1976.

"We've lived with 'Songs in the Key of Life' for fifty years, but there's still more to hear," Wonder said in a statement announcing the release. "We didn't add these songs to the album, but they were part of what I was feeling and discovering as we made it."

Wonder, 76, personally selected the recordings for the anniversary release. John Fischbach and Gary O Adante, two of the engineers who worked on the original album, returned to mix the previously unreleased material. Adante was credited as Gary Olazabal on the 1976 LP.

The new songs also bring back musicians whose careers became intertwined with Wonder's extraordinary run in the 1970s.

Greg Phillinganes, Michael Sembello, Ben Bridges, Jim Horn, Raymond Pounds and longtime Wonder bassist Nathan Watts are among the musicians heard on the recordings.

"I'm Into Livin'" features background vocals from Thelma Houston, Deniece Williams and Shirley Brewer. Houston was months away from taking "Don't Leave Me This Way" to No. 1, while Williams was nearing the beginning of a solo career that would produce hits including "Free" and "Let's Hear It for the Boy."

Former Supremes member Susaye Greene co-wrote "My Life Story of Love" with Wonder. Greene and Wonder later co-wrote "I Can't Help It," recorded by Michael Jackson for his 1979 album "Off the Wall."

There is even a piece of studio lore connecting the new release to the marathon sessions that produced the original album.

According to Wonder's team, the final session ended at 4:54 a.m., prompting Watts to exclaim, "Fo'FiftyFo'!" The phrase became an inside joke used around Wonder's circle to mark the end of a session.

The four recordings arriving 50 years later make that ending a little less final.

"Songs in the Key of Life" was already unusually expansive when Wonder finally released it. The original package contained two LPs and a four-song bonus EP, "A Something's Extra," after roughly two years of recording.

It entered Billboard's album chart at No. 1, making Wonder the first American artist to debut an album in the top spot, and remained No. 1 for 14 weeks.

The album produced two No. 1 singles, "I Wish" and "Sir Duke," while songs including "Isn't She Lovely," "As," "Pastime Paradise" and "Love's in Need of Love Today" became enduring pieces of Wonder's catalog.

It also completed one of the most remarkable Grammy runs in music history.

"Songs in the Key of Life" won album of the year in 1977, giving Wonder his third victory in the category in four years following "Innervisions" and "Fulfillingness' First Finale." The Recording Academy inducted the album into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2002, and the Library of Congress added it to the National Recording Registry in 2005.

Wonder isn't limiting the 50th anniversary to the vault.

He will take "Songs in the Key of Life" back on the road beginning Oct. 13 in Birmingham, England, performing the album in its entirety on an 18-date tour through Europe and the United States.

The U.S. leg begins Nov. 19 at Madison Square Garden in New York and includes stops in Chicago and Washington before a two-night homecoming in Detroit on Dec. 8-9. The tour is scheduled to close Dec. 19 at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles.

Stevie Wonder • 18 Dates

“Songs in the Key of Life Performances — 50th Anniversary Tour”

Europe & United States • Fall 2026

Oct. 13

Birmingham, England
Utilita Arena

Oct. 15

Paris
Accor Arena

Oct. 18

Copenhagen, Denmark
Royal Arena

Oct. 20

Oslo, Norway
Unity Arena

Oct. 22

Stockholm
3Arena

Oct. 24

Hannover, Germany
ZAG Arena

Oct. 26

Cologne, Germany
LANXESS Arena

Oct. 28

Amsterdam
Ziggo Dome

Nov. 1

Dublin
3Arena

Nov. 3

London
The O2

Nov. 8

Manchester, England
Co-op Live

Nov. 11

Glasgow, Scotland
OVO Hydro

U.S. Dates

Nov. 19

New York
Madison Square Garden

Nov. 21

Chicago
United Center

Nov. 23

Washington, D.C.
Capital One Arena

Dec. 8

Detroit
Fox Theatre

Dec. 9

Detroit
Fox Theatre

Dec. 19

Inglewood, Calif.
Intuit Dome

1. Jay-Z Rape Accuser Recants in Federal Court, Says She Never Met Him

Jay-Z speaks during an interview with GQ released March 23, 2026. The rapper, whose legal name is Shawn Carter, discussed the sexual-assault allegation against him during the interview and maintained it was false. The woman who made the allegation said in a federal court declaration filed Thursday that she had never met Carter and that her claims against him were false. (Screengrab/GQ)

The woman who accused Jay-Z of sexually assaulting her when she was 13 now says she never met him and that her allegations were false.

In a 12-page declaration filed Thursday in federal court in Manhattan, the woman, identified as Jane Doe, said Shawn Carter, Jay-Z’s legal name, never raped or sexually assaulted her and never engaged in inappropriate conduct toward her.

“There is no truth to any of my claims against Mr. Carter,” she said in the declaration, filed under penalty of perjury.

Doe also said she received no money or promise of compensation for making the declaration.

Carter has since dismissed her as a defendant in his ongoing federal lawsuit against attorney Tony Buzbee and other lawyers involved in bringing the original case.

Doe’s current attorney, James Blair Newman Jr., said she continues to maintain that she was sexually assaulted but now acknowledges that she was wrong when she identified Carter. Newman said she apologizes to Carter and his family.

The reversal goes considerably further than Doe had before.

Her original lawsuit, filed in October 2024, accused Sean “Diddy” Combs of sexually assaulting her after the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards. It initially referred to another alleged attacker only as a male celebrity.

An amended complaint filed that December named Carter.

Both men denied the allegations.

Questions about Doe’s account surfaced almost immediately. In a December 2024 interview with NBC News, she acknowledged making mistakes in her recollection while continuing to stand by the allegation.

Among the discrepancies, Doe said she encountered Good Charlotte’s Benji Madden at the party, although a representative said Madden and his brother were touring in the Midwest that night. She also said her father drove several hours to pick her up afterward. He told NBC he did not remember doing so.

Doe voluntarily dismissed the lawsuit with prejudice in February 2025, preventing the same claims from being refiled.

Carter then took the fight to Doe and the lawyers who represented her.

His federal lawsuit accuses Buzbee and others of pursuing an allegation they knew or should have known was unreliable. A central part of Carter’s case is his contention that the attorneys failed to properly investigate Doe before attaching his name to an accusation of child sexual assault.

Carter’s complaint points to information he says was available before his name was added to the case, including Doe’s recent involvement in Mental Health Court and public testimony from her psychiatrist concerning multiple mental-health conditions, prescription medication and a history of hallucinations.

Those details are allegations cited by Carter as part of his argument that Doe’s lawyers had reason to investigate her account more closely. Mental-health treatment itself does not establish that someone is dishonest or that an allegation is false.

Doe’s mental health later entered the court record from her side as well. In seeking permission to continue using a pseudonym, she submitted a declaration from a psychiatrist who said publicly identifying her could destabilize her recovery and worsen her psychiatric symptoms.

Carter spoke publicly about the toll of the accusation during a GQ interview released March 23.

He said the case left him heartbroken and with “uncontrollable anger,” adding that an allegation that serious was something a person “better be super sure” about. Carter maintained in the interview that the accusation was false.

Buzbee has denied wrongdoing and disputed Doe’s latest account of how her original case was handled. He has said several lawyers interviewed her before he personally met her and that she gave them essentially the same story.

A California appeals court sided with Buzbee on a separate Carter lawsuit earlier this month.

In an unpublished Sept. 9 opinion, the three-judge panel upheld dismissal of Carter’s California case and said the evidence before it did not show that Buzbee accused Carter while knowing the allegation was false or with reckless disregard for whether it was true. The court pointed to declarations describing legal teams that interviewed Doe and said they believed her claims.

That decision came before Thursday’s declaration and involved different claims and legal standards.

The new declaration also differs sharply from an earlier, secretly recorded conversation in which investigators approached Doe at her Alabama home and said she appeared to clear Carter. Doe later said she felt intimidated during that encounter and reaffirmed her original allegation.