Chance The Rapper Sued By Former Manager Pat Corcoran

Chance The Rapper has been hit with a $3 million USD lawsuit filed by his former manager, Pat Corcoran.

According to reports, Corcoran, who served as manager from May 2012 to April 2020, filed the suit on November 30 in the State of Illinois Circuit Court of Cook County. Legal documents obtained show that the former manager is accusing Chance The Rapper of “compensatory damages and exemplary damages for breach of their agreement, related violations of the Illinois Sales Representative Act,” and that he is owed more than $2.5 million USD in “unreimbursed expenses” spent during the time he worked alongside the Chicago artist.

Corcoran supposedly aided in choosing performance venues, publicity and other public relations, deal negotiations and managing finances to name a few. In 2013, the pair signed a deal that promised Corcoran 15 percent of Chance’s net profits from merchandise, tours, shows, mixtapes, album sales and streams, brand deals and endorsements, film and television projects and more. Chance also originally offered 10 percent gross of his own earnings, however Corcoran declined and stuck with the 15 percent to “ensure the rapper’s financial success and avoid stunting his career trajectory.”

Their professional relationship began to sour in 2019 when Chance announced the release of his debut studio album The Big Day without informing Corcoran beforehand. The former manager was allegedly against the idea of announcing the project before the start of the writing process, but Chance disregarded Corcoran’s counsel and continued to release the album in July of that year. The Big Day did well in its first week and debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart but failed to sustain its momentum, resulting in the postponement of a supporting tour — which was initially forecasted to gross somewhere between $25 to $35 million USD — due to low ticket sales and unfavorable attendance projections. “[F]ollowing fan disappointment in Bennett’s [Chance The Rapper] most recent album and underwhelming fan support for its associated tour, Bennett replaced Corcoran with Ken and Taylor Bennett, his father and brother, and now refused to honor the terms of his agreement with Corcoran,” the lawsuit read.

Corcoran was officially dropped as manager on April 27, 2020 after several efforts of reconciliation with Chance, and he now claims that he should be paid his commissions from the streams of 10 Day, Acid Rap and The Big Day, the Live Nation Touring, Chance’s hosting stint over at Netflix’s Rhythm + Flow and more. The rapper, however, was only prepared to give Corcoran a one-time payment of $350,000 USD.

“Mr. Corcoran has filed a suit for allegedly unpaid commissions,” Chance’s legal team told XXL in a statement. “In fact, Mr. Corcoran has been paid all of the commissions to which he is legally entitled. Most of the complaint consists of self-serving and fabricated allegations that are wholly unrelated to Mr. Corcoran’s claim for commissions and were plainly included in a calculated attempt to seek attention. Those allegations are wholly without merit, are grossly offensive and we will respond to them within the context of the litigation.”

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