Muni Long’s former managers are suing the singer for refusing to pay more than $600,000 worth of promised fees, though the Grammy-winning R&B star’s team calls the claims “unfounded.”
Long (Priscilla Renea Hamilton) is facing breach of contract claims from Ebony Son Entertainment, the Atlanta-based management company run by Chaka Zulu and Jeff Dixon. The duo is best known for managing Ludacris, with whom they started the record label Disturbing Tha Peace in 1998.
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Ebony Son claims in a Thursday (Oct. 23) federal court complaint that Zulu and Dixon’s hard work was instrumental to Long’s success, including her win for Best R&B Performance at the Grammy Awards this year. But Long fired her managers in January and now owes hefty commissions from live shows and recording and writing gigs, according to the complaint.
“Defendant Priscilla Renea Hamilton is publicly known as the musical artist ‘Muni Long’ but her less well-known performances are as a serial grifter,” reads the lawsuit. “After taking the benefit of plaintiff’s elite and highly sought-after management services for more than a year, Muni Long shamelessly reneged on her promises to pay plaintiff the agreed-upon, customary percentage of revenue she earned, and only earned because plaintiff assisted in obtaining those engagements.”
Long’s team denies the claims as “unfounded” in a statement to Billboard on Friday (Oct. 24). The team says it’s “deeply unfortunate that the matter could not be resolved privately and professionally,” claiming Long made “good faith” settlement offers even though “no formal contract ever existed” with Ebony Son.
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“The situation has been particularly distressing, as it involves the same team that took possession of the artist’s phone and sought to have her involuntarily committed to a mental health facility, despite medical confirmation that she was suffering from a Lupus flare-up,” says Long’s team in the statement. “All appropriate avenues are being pursued to ensure that the truth is fully and fairly defended. The artist hopes this underscores the importance to all those in creative fields to safeguard their personal and professional boundaries and be discerning about those they trust to represent them.”
Zulu and Dixon have been battling with Long in court since July, when the managers first leveled allegations over the unpaid commissions in a California state court complaint. That state court case was withdrawn just days before Ebony Son took the claims to federal court.
Long broke onto the R&B scene in 2022 with her hit single “Hrs and Hrs,” which spent 20 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 and peaked at No. 16 on the chart. She signed with Def Jam Recordings that year, and “Hrs and Hrs” won the Grammy for Best R&B Performance at the 2023 ceremony.
According to Thursday’s lawsuit, Long had her first meeting with Zulu and Dixon at New Orleans’ ESSENCE Festival of Culture in July 2023. During this meeting, the managers say, Long allegedly agreed to pay the duo 20% of all her gross revenue and reimburse all management-related expenses.
Zulu and Dixon say they began putting in work for Long “within days of being hired,” ensuring that her 2024 album Revenge was released before the Grammys cutoff date. This made it possible for Long to win another Best R&B Performance Grammy that year for her song “Made for Me,” the lawsuit claims.
The managers allege Long paid her required commissions and reimbursements for over a year, but that she “purportedly became unhappy” with the amount of the fees and ultimately stopped all payments in October 2024. In January, they say she officially cut ties with Ebony Son.
“Plaintiff, who worked tirelessly to advance Muni Long’s career, [has] secured over $5 million in revenue for defendants to date,” says the complaint. “But as to a significant percentage of this revenue, defendants have failed to pay plaintiff the corresponding commission payments as required by the agreement.”
Zulu and Dixon claim Long owes more than $600,000 worth of commissions and expenses from the money she made via live shows, a $1 million ASCAP publishing deal, songwriting agreements with Shenseea and Tiwa Savage, and features on tracks by Teddy Swims and Toosi.
The lawsuit says Long also owes fees on other sources of revenue that Zulu and Dixon have not yet been able to fully audit, including the money she made opening for Chris Brown on the 11:11 Tour in 2024.
Unrelatedly, Zulu was criminally charged with murder in 2022 for shooting a man during an altercation in Atlanta. The charges were later dropped after prosecutors determined that Zulu was acting in self-defense.
