The lawyers of Nigerian street-pop act Mohbad have served a letter of notice of termination on Naira Marley’s Marlian Records, following disagreement between the artist and the record to which he has been signed since 2019.
Background: On 5th October, 2022, Mohbad took to his Twitter account to raise an alarm that he was physically assaulted at Naira Marley’s Marlian Records House.
According to Mohbad, he had visited the Marlian House in a bid to discuss a change of manager with Naira Marley. Mohbad revealed his decision to change his manager whom he claimed was Naira Marley’s brother, angered the Marlian boss and resulted in some of his boys assaulting and injuring him.
Mohbad further revealed that he was sober during the encounter as previous cases of assault had been blamed on intoxication on his part.
Naira Marley during an Instagram session reacted to Mohbad’s assault claim by stating that Mohbad stormed Marlian’s record intoxicated and in a feisty mood to fight his manager. According to Naira, all efforts to restrain Mohbad from fighting his manager failed and it was only in an effort to stop him from hurting himself and others that he was forcefully restrained.
Mohbad would counter Naira’s claims that he was intoxicated by describing it as an insulting attempt to hide the truth. He would also reveal he had been admitted in a hospital where he was receiving treatment for the trauma and injuries he sustained from the assault.
The recent disagreement between Mohbad and Naira Marley wasn’t the first as a previous disagreement also degenerated into violence.
Mohbad has been signed to Marlian Records since 2019 and his 2020 debut project ‘Light’ was released under the label. However, in the past one year, there have been claims that Mohbad has been held by Marlian Records against his will and all attempts to free himself from the contract have been met with violence.
Termination Notice: On Tuesday, 25th August 2022, Pulse obtained a copy of the notice of termination served on Naira Marley’s Marlian Records by Mohbad’s lawyers.
The letter read as follows:
The above subject refers.
We are solicitors to Promise Alba Oladimeji professionally known as Mohbad, hereinafter referred to as our client. Our Client has reliably informed us of the following facts;
2. That you, Azeez Fashola professionally known as Nara Marley entered into an arrangement with our client as ‘Marlians Entertainment Limited’ sometime in 2019, wherein you released and monetized songs made by our client from the time of the arrangement till date;
3. During the period of this arrangement you orchestrated and carried out violent physical attacks on our client, causing grievous bodily harm and threat to the life of our client.
4. In contravention of the terms of the arrangement between our client and yourself, you have failed to pay any advances as mutually agreed by both parties since 2019 till date;
5. You have also failed to pay all royalties due our client from all his intellectual property works monetized, released and utilised by you from 2019 till date.
6. That due to the direct contravention of the terms of agreement, as well as the criminal acts of assault and battery against our client, he has decided to terminate the arrangement effective from the 7 of October, 2022
7. Sequel to this termination we therefore demand the following:
- The logs and records of the digital sales of all songs by our client released and utilized during this period (2019 – till date) and payment of the monetary valve in respect thereof due to our client within 7 (seven) days of your receipt of this letter.
- The immediate handover of our client’s entire catalogue of songs released prior and during the arrangement with you.
Please accept the assurances of our professional regards as we anticipate your immediate cooperation.
As of the time of filing this report, Naira Marley and Marlian Records were yet to issue a statement on the letter.
Source: pulse.com.gh