Sir Jinx — Dre's cousin who rose to fame with Ice Cube in the 1980s — claims he never signed off and wasn't paid for his work on the song.
T. I.’s company wanted the case dismissed, arguing Jinx had willingly worked on the song and consented to its release. But in a ruling Monday (Aug. 17), Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett said it was too early to decide whether the rapper’s firm had secured such approval from Jinx.
The judge also refused to dismiss claims that T. I.’s company (Grand Hustle LLC) breached a contract with Jinx by releasing the song without his authorization. The decision is not a final ruling, but instead sends the case into more litigation — first into discovery, then toward a potential trial.
Neither side’s attorneys immediately returned requests for comment on Wednesday (Aug. 19).
Jinx broke out in the 1980s as a member of the hip-hop trio C. I. A. alongside Ice Cube and Kid Disaster. He then produced Cube’s early albums and went on to a prolific career in the studio, producing records for Yo-Yo, Tone Loc, Xzibit and others.
T. I. released a star-studded video for “Dope” in 2016, with Dre listed as a producer after hinting earlier that he’d been working with the rap icon on his upcoming album Dime Trap.
But when the album finally dropped in 2018, “Dope” wasn’t included in the track list. The song remains popular on YouTube, though, where it’s racked up more than 19 million views.
Jinx has been litigating over “Dope” for years, claiming he was not properly paid for his work on it. He first sued Grand Hustle in state court in 2023 and again in federal court last year.
But he dropped the state case after a judge largely rejected it, and the first federal case was dismissed over procedural defects.
Faced with those new claims, T. I.’s lawyers cried gamesmanship. They called the new case an “eleventh-hour pivot” and said earlier versions of the case had admitted that Jinx fully cooperated with the release of the song.
In Monday’s decision, Judge Garnett did not rule that Jinx had won anything. Instead, she said that those issues could only be decided later in the case, after evidence has been gathered in discovery.
But he did say that if Jinx can later find proof, T. I.’s company had potentially breached a so-called quasi-contract by releasing “Dope” without approval.
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