Pharrell Trying to ‘Rewrite History’ and ‘Erase’ Chad Hugo from Neptunes, Producer Claims

Pharrell Williams Sues Chad Hugo in Copyright Battle That Seeks to Eliminate Duo’s Co-Creditor Status

Chad Hugo, former production partner of Pharrell Williams, is actively opposing his collaborator’s efforts to dismiss a copyright infringement lawsuit, alleging that Williams aims to erase Hugo’s significant contributions to hip-hop’s most pioneering recording duo.

In a recent court filing, Hugo and legal counsel Brent Lehman contest Williams’ assertion that the lawsuit concerns solely one specific song. Instead, Hugo maintains that the case encompasses a substantially broader collection of works born from compositions created across roughly fifty studio sessions spanning 2019 through 2021. He contends that Williams and related entities controlling record labels and publishing are now attempting to determine the ultimate release status of those compositions.

Hugo cites EarthGang’s “U Gotta” as an illustrative example, noting that he was apparently omitted from the track’s official credits despite the involved creative team publicly acknowledging his involvement.

“The Defendants have asked the court to exclude Chad Hugo from The Neptunes on the basis of these filings before any documentary evidence has been produced,” Hugo’s new lawsuit draft, reported by Rolling Stone, asserts. “Yet The Neptunes represented a partnership of equals. For three decades, Hugo and Pharrell Williams jointly crafted records under that moniker. Hugo has consistently occupied a central position within The Neptunes’ achievements and remains equally vital to the group’s enduring influence on the industry. More recently, Williams has pursued strategies intended to silence Hugo from the duo’s legacy, seeking to rewrite history so that its profits function primarily as if he never existed.”

Hugo characterizes Williams’ insistence on more precise documentation as particularly inequitable, pointing out that he repeatedly requested royalty disclosures, financial records, and other relevant materials between 2021 and 2024 yet received minimal responses, despite his counsel confirming that such documents do exist.

Law firms representing Williams have refrained from issuing immediate commentary following Rolling Stone’s inquiry on Friday. Within the accompanying motion to dismiss, Williams contends that after several iterations of the complaint file, Hugo has failed to provide a definitive identification of a single copyright claim suitable for federal jurisdiction.

In the litigation, Hugo initially named the N.E.R.D. album *No One Ever Really Dies* as the sole subject of his original copyright allegation, asserting infringement of the underlying composition and its sound recording. An amended complaint later enumerated eight distinct tracks outside the album itself; however, Hugo subsequently withdrawn every single one of those references in his second amended complaint submitted last month. The latest revision of the pleading designates solely EarthGang’s “U Gotta” and does not specify whether Hugo is claiming ownership of the musical composition, the sound recording, or both—a characterization Williams disputes.

“Weilliams characterized the [second amended complaint] as deliberately vague and ambiguous regarding the copyright interests presented, suggesting the defendant possesses no practical ability to formulate a responsive defense because even the complainant cannot identify which specific compositions or recordings are actually contested—despite repeated claims of present presence at the parties’ side throughout the proceedings,” Willams’ motion states. “Even considering how difficult the matter is to comprehend, it appears Hugo lacks fundamental awareness of which works or recordings he purportedly authored, even while asserting constant involvement beside both defendants.”

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