Chance the Rapper sued for $3m by ex-manager who claims he was used as scapegoat for album’s failure

Representatives for the musician have called Corcoran’s allegations ‘self-serving’ and ‘grossly offensive’

Chance the Rapper is being sued for $3 million (£2.2 million) by his former manager.

Pat Corcoran, widely known as Pat the Manager, is demanding the sum of money in unpaid commissions from his ex-client as part of a new lawsuit.

Corcoran claims that the rapper went against his advice regarding the release date of his debut album The Big Day in 2019 and then fired him after the album proved to be disappointing.

NME reports that Corcoran alleges that Chance felt the pressure to capitalise quickly on the huge success of his three early mixtapes and therefore announced the album release date (26 July) prior to recording any material.

Cocoran went on to claim that the time pressure and the rapper’s own procrastination led to an album of “subpar quality”.

The Chicago-native made his announcement on Twitter Wednesday night

He said: “Procrastination and lackadaisical effort, perpetuated by various hangers-on uninterested in the hard work of writing and recording, resulted in a freestyle-driven product of subpar quality.”

The Big Day debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200 chart, however, both fans and critics voiced their disappointment at the album. Chance cancelled his tour in a last-minute response to the album’s underwhelming reception.

In court papers filed last month, Corcoran alleges that Chance had gone against his advice in regard to cancelling the tour. He claims that the rapper had chosen to call it off only five days before the album’s arrival, despite his manager urging him to cancel the tour immediately after the album’s initial release did not go to plan. 

Chance eventually fired Corcoran in April 2020, with his brother and fellow rapper Taylor Bennet stepping into the manager role, together with their father Ken Williams-Bennett.

The lawsuit claims that instead of Chance accepting “that his own lack of dedication had doomed the project”, Corcoran was used as a scapegoat for the album’s failure.

It goes on to allege that Chance is declining to pay for the work Corcoran has completed.

Williams-Bennett has offered the former manager $350,000 (£260,400) to settle the dispute. In a statement issued to Pitchfork, representatives for Chance said: “Mr Corcoran has filed a suit for allegedly unpaid commissions. In fact, Mr Corcoran has been paid all of the commissions to which he is legally entitled.”

The statement goes on to call Corcoran’s allegations “self-serving and fabricated” as well as “wholly without merit” and “grossly offensive”.

It read: “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.”

The Independent has reached out to Corcoran’s representatives for comment.