Tallahassee, Florida's autotune pioneer, T-Pain, is suing Akon's label, Konvict Entertainment, for almost $500,000 in unpaid royalties.

This marks the second time that the Grammy-award winning singer and rapper has sued his former collaborator's label. The first lawsuit was filed by T-Pain in June 2018, for allegedly violating their 2005 contract and recording agreement, owing T-Pain royalties from his first four studio albums, and the advance from his fifth.

The first lawsuit reached a settlement and a deal was made in July 2025, but according to T-Pain, born Faheem Rasheed Najm, Konvict Entertainment failed to hold up their end of the deal, as promised.

T-Pain alleges that he made several attempts to collect his due payments, and when instructed to make contact with BuVision, the label run by Akon's younger brother, Abou "Bu" Thiam, he was unable to successfully reach after attempting to for ten days, from June 2, 2026 to June 12, 2026.

T-Pain is now seeking $489,047.76, the total outstanding amount owed by Konvict Entertainment, as well as attorney fees and prejudgement interest. According to XXL and documents received on September 8, including an 80-page filing from September 4 in the Fulton County Superior Court, the nearly $500,000 was left out from a royalty payment of approximately $1.3 million, received by T-Pain's distributor, Zomba Recordings, on March 30.

Leading up to his solo debut, T-Pain worked with Akon's label extensively as a songwriter, penning "I Can't Wait" on Konvicted, and even originally writing "I'm Sprung" for Akon, himself. The two later went on to famously collaborate on "You Got Me" in 2005 and "Bartender" in 2007.