Little Simz sues former producer Inflo over unpaid debts
Inflo had worked with Simz, born Simbiatu Ajikawo, since her third album, 2019's Grey Area, as well as producing for Adele, Michael Kiwanuka, Tyler, the Creator, and Inflo's wife, soul singer Cleo Sol.
The rapper filed her claim in January, alleging that Inflo held on to loans for more than a year and that his company provided improper accounting to her for funds that Sony supplied to cover recording, Law360 reports.
Inflo has not yet filed a defence to the claim. Representatives for Simz offered no comment. The Guardian has contacted representatives for Inflo.
In April 2022, Simz left her previous manager to work with an employee of Inflo's company, Forever Living Originals. When her publishing contract with Universal Music Publishing ended, Inflo advised her to self-publish her music, the claim states.
Simz then worked with Artists Without a Label (AWAL), a label services company for independent artists, owned by Sony. In November 2022, she entered a three-album deal with a total advance of £2m, as well as £625,000 to cover the costs of recording the third album.
Prior to receiving the costs payment, Simz made two separate payments of £350,000 and £275,000 to Inflo to cover the costs of that record with AWAL. In October 2024, a letter sent by Inflo's solicitors stated that the total costs only came to £524,436. Her claim states that she was under the impression any remaining funds would be returned to her on completion of the album.
Simz lent Inflo the money on 1 December 2023 to cover the Drumsheds show on the condition that he repay her by 4 December. The claim states that he failed to do so, saying he was 'still getting [his] deal over the line' and would send the money 'back as soon as it lands'. Tickets for the event cost £99 each.
Simz lent Inflo further sums of £500,000 and £200,000 in December 2023, but she claims he failed to repay them in 2024 despite repeated requests. Her inability to pay her full tax liability left her subject to interest and charges, she claims.
Her claim states that Inflo's lawyers acknowledged the debt in October 2024, but incorrectly framed it as a debt owed by Forever Living Originals, not Inflo himself.
Simz is set to release her sixth album, Lotus, on 9 May. The album was produced by Miles Clinton James, who has previously produced for London jazz outfit Kokoroko. She shared the lead single, Flood, in February. In June, she will curate the Meltdown festival at London's Southbank Centre. The lineup is yet to be announced.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Metro
a day ago
- Metro
Why is Sony trying to kill the concept of the video game console?
A reader worries that Sony's plans to make more of their games multiformat will destroy the entire concept of consoles, as they follow the same path as Xbox. At this point I think it's clear that Xbox is dead. They're the biggest publishers in the West but at such a terrible cost it's almost poetic. No one's buying their hardware and no one is ever likely to again. All the famous Xbox exclusive franchises are not only about to be not exclusive but they're just one more disaster away from being dead franchises. Xbox basically doesn't exist anymore, the way it used to be. All it is, is the combination of Activision Blizzard and Bethesda. Everything else is an insignificant extra, that will probably end up being shut down in short order. It's a classic example of being careful what you wish for but disturbing because, like all rich bullies, Microsoft is now pretending that, actually, they meant to do that and rather than feel bad about turning the industry on its head they're just going to carry on and make things worse. And I'm afraid that Sony is now doing the same thing. Given Microsoft is many times their size, Sony should never have had a chance against them, if they were run by competent people. Call me naïve, but if I were Sony and I saw my long-time rival on the ropes I'd give them the old one-two and finish them off for good. As we've seen though they've done the opposite. It almost seems like they're trying to copy Microsoft, except without the infinite funds and not owning two of the biggest publishers in the world. Suddenly, Sony doesn't care for exclusives and they're embracing multiformat releases, even though that makes absolutely no sense for their business. Sure, they will make more money in the short term, but in the long term… there will be no long term if they destroy the whole concept of a video game console. If you want to play Xbox games now you've got two choices: buy a dying console that Xbox aren't even bothering to sell in some countries now or play them on PC or streaming. Microsoft make money out of this, of course, but they have no control over those formats and so they become just like any other publisher, like EA or Ubisoft. Sign up to the GameCentral newsletter for a unique take on the week in gaming, alongside the latest reviews and more. Delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning. There are two basic reasons to buy a console: the lack of fuss and bother (and generally lower price) compared to a PC and the exclusive games. I have long said that Sony releasing their exclusives on PC is a mistake because while you get some short term cash from it you're eating away at the reason anyone would buy a console in the first place. But now we hear that the August release of Helldivers 2 on Xbox Series X/S is not going to be a one-off, that Sony wants to release more games on Xbox and Nintendo Switch. Anything to make the smallest amount of extra money now, even if it means destroying their future forever. Is Sony short of cash or something? Are their financials so bad they have to do the corporate equivalent of going to the pawn shop to make it to the end of the week? Not as far as I know, but that's what they're doing anyway. There seems no point me even complaining at this point, as not only are they obviously not going to listen to me or any other fan but it seems to late. Sony had two choices when Microsoft messed up: go all out to show how good the PlayStation 5 and its line-up of exclusives is or… just sort of roll up and die for no reason. And yes, I know the PlayStation 5 is still selling well but that's because it's the only game in town at the moment, now the Xbox Series X/S has gone to an early grave. But every year the PC becomes more and more popular and that's only going to accelerate as one of the main reasons to buy a console is removed. It's not the end of gaming or anything – third party games will be unaffected – but the sort of exclusive games that Sony used to make are going to become rarer and rarer. They already are but when they don't need them to show off their console, and act like a killer app, they'll just keep reducing the budgets and the number of them they make until they don't bother at all. More Trending In the end, Sony will become a third party publisher too and even more choice and variety will be removed from the games industry. By reader Dunbar The reader's features do not necessarily represent the views of GameCentral or Metro. You can submit your own 500 to 600-word reader feature at any time, which if used will be published in the next appropriate weekend slot. Just contact us at gamecentral@ or use our Submit Stuff page and you won't need to send an email. MORE: The Nintendo Switch 2 is the closest thing to a modern day Commodore Amiga – Reader's Feature MORE: Star Wars Outlaws is Ubisoft's best game and you should get it now it's cheap - Reader's Feature MORE: It is madness that Konami still hasn't made a new Castlevania - Reader's Feature
Daily Mirror
a day ago
- Daily Mirror
Football legend and presenter narrowly avoids crash in £120k car
Dion Dublin was forced to make an emergency stop in his £120,000 Lotus Eletre R after one of the tyres on the car, which is built for speed, went bang - and he was lucky not to be in a crash Football legend and television presenter Dion Dublin suffered a tyre blowout whilst driving his £120,000 Lotus - narrowly escaping a serious crash. The former Aston Villa striker faced the drama on the road when one of his tyres suddenly failed. Dublin was enjoying a spin in his Lotus Eletre R when he was forced to pull over immediately. Thankfully, Mark from Yorkshire Rescue came to the aid of the Homes Under the Hammer star within just 30 minutes. The celebrity's motor was then towed to the Cedar Court Hotel car park in Bradford. After the drama, Dublin organised for a mobile engineer to fit a new tyre on his luxury motor. The ex-professional footballer seized the chance to take a selfie with the workers as a gesture of gratitude for their rapid assistance. Ozzy from Mobile Tyre Buddy dealt with the sports star's car, whilst Dublin took some snaps of the situation. The tyre drama happened on Wednesday (30 Jul), according to NeedToKnow. Dion Dublin said: "Well, that wasn't much fun. Huge thanks to Yorkshire Rescue, who were with me within 30 minutes, and a special thank you to Mark, top fella. "Back in the game. Huge thanks to Mobile Tyre Buddy for the lightning-fast response. Ozzy was absolutely brilliant." The drama left supporters stunned. Joanne O'Connell said: "So long as you and your family are ok, that's all that matters Dion." Michael Clitheroe chimed in: "He looks right happy to have his picture taken." Mark Summers remarked: "Take it he wasn't a Villa fan." Chris Albutt said: "At least you're safe and well Dion." Oliver chimed in: "Hardly surprising it's eating its own tyres when it weighs the same as the moon." This comes on the heels of confirmation that Dublin has been given the green light to knock down his mansion and build luxury homes in its stead. He initially forked out £1.24 million for a mansion in the posh village of Caldy, Merseyside, with his wife last year. While his initial plan was to refurbish the property, and even secured permission from Wiral Council to do so, he discovered that the 'poor physical condition' of the building meant it would be more practical and cost-effective to construct a new property. His new abode will feature a games and cinema room as well as five en-suite bedrooms and an upstairs laundry room. He also intends to build new gate pillars at the entrance along with off-road parking for at least three cars.
Metro
2 days ago
- Metro
Games Inbox: Was the Nintendo Direct a disaster?
The Friday letters page worries about Nintendo's third party support for Switch 2, as one reader is unimpressed by Assassin's Creed Shadows. To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@ Worst. Direct. Ever. What the hell was that? All that talk about the Nintendo Direct and that may be the most disappointing one of these livestreams I've ever seen, including from Sony and Microsoft. I can't say there was a single thing that took my interest, out of any of the 'big' games. Definitely not Monster Hunter Stories 3 and those two 2D-HD games. I mean, two of them?! And then they both turn out to be multiformat anyway. I think Square Enix and Nintendo are completely overestimating how popular that art style is, as I've always thought it was ugly and boring. I'm sure others must like it but I'm also sure that those games are not big sellers and that nobody's going to run out and buy a Switch 2 to play The Adventures Of Elliot (I thought I'd made that name up at first, but that really is what it's called!). An absolute disaster as far as I'm concerned, in terms of showing the Switch 2 had good third party support and giving an update on games that have already been announced. Where the heck was Elden Ring? How hard can that be to port to the Switch 2? It was on PlayStation 4, so it's not even a current gen game. Nintendo are being far too comfortable about all this at the moment and every time a games company does that it ends in ruin. I have a horrible feeling the Switch 2 is going to end up being Nintendo's PlayStation 3. Campbell Direct delay I was mostly disappointed by the Direct on Thursday. Nothing hugely exciting or impressive, or even release dates for a lot of already announced games like Elden Ring. Sign up to the GameCentral newsletter for a unique take on the week in gaming, alongside the latest reviews and more. Delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning. The new Katamari looks good, though why it only said Switch not Switch 2 is a mystery, especially as it seems it's coming to PlayStation 5, Xbox, and PC too. I think if there'd been a not-E3 Direct, this one would have felt less disappointing. But the lack of big presentations from this Nintendo has meant any sniff of news has a higher bar to cross. This one was nearly as bad as a typical State Of Play. Euclidian Boxes GC: A lot of games being released at the moment are Switch 1 only (Once Upon A Katamari is out in less than three months) and that will continue to be the case for some time, given how long a game takes to make and how many developers have had trouble getting Switch 2 devkits. Dead service game This Monster Hunter Wilds situation is pretty crazy. I'm reading that Capcom's share price has taken a hammering because it's taken a nose dive, and they were doing so well before (there goes my Dino Crisis remake). Once again we see just how unpredictable and unreliable live service games can be. We're talking about the best-selling game of the year here and now it's doing so badly it's tanking the entire company. This madness has got to end. Just make a game and release some DLC if you have to, it doesn't need to be any more complicated than that. Focus Email your comments to: gamecentral@ Pre-deforestation After waiting for a price drop I've finally got Assassin's Creed Shadows. I don't know what your review said but if I'm honest I'm disappointed in it. Whenever you're running in the open you either can't see in front of your nose, because of the 20 million trees and bushes they have put in it, or you're sliding back down a hill you can't climb. It's like they went to Japan, counted the trees and bushes, and timesed them buy a 100 and said that's how many is needed. It's not the worst Assassin's Creed, all the others I've 100% but this one I might give it a miss. Also, if I'm honest, it's boring. The best one I've played has to be Assassin's Creed Origins with the DLC. I don't know what it is but I love ancient Egypt and that game ticked all the boxes. David Never beaten on price Vampire Survivors on the Switch must be the best value for money I've ever spent on games. Still playing the base game months after buying it, the more you play it the more things unlock. Just bought the Ode To Castlevania DLC, which is really good as well. Full credit to the developers, no microtransactions or any other rubbish. Long story cut short, it's just a really good game if you like the old games like Smash T.V. and Robotron 2084 (yes, I'm old). Chevy Malibu (PSN ID) PS: The base game and the Ode DLC cost me about 8 quid… not even two pints nowadays. Super Pocket change I pulled the trigger only last week on the Evercade Neo Geo Super Pocket and it was by sheer accident that I found out about it whilst I was browsing online. The 14 games included are Metal Slug X, Fatal Fury Special, Samurai Showdown 2, Alpha Mission 2, Blazing Star, King Of The Monsters 2: The Next Thing, Last Resort, Mutation Nation, Over Top, Sengoku 3, Shock Troopers: 2nd Squad, Soccer Brawl, The Last Blade, and Top Hunter: Roddy & Cathy. Personally, three of my standout favourites are Over Top, Soccer Brawl, and King Of The Monsters 2. I'd never played any of these before, never mind heard of them? There all so addictive and simple to play. The 2.8″ screen is very clear and bright even for my late young 50s eyesight. The built-in rechargeable battery last approximately four hours on a single charge and the build quality is pretty decent too. In all honesty, I think £50 with 14 games included is an actual steal especially in this day and age. HAJ GC: King Of The Monsters is fairly well known, for a Neo Geo game. The underrated Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee always felt like a spiritual successor. New outlet Animal Well is getting a physical release from the new game shop site Lost in Cult, based in the UK. It is £29.99 plus £6 postage, which is a lot cheaper than buying the Limited Run version from eBay like I was thinking of doing, until I saw this release. I've pre-ordered a copy at that price. There are a choice of two covers for PlayStation 5 or Switch physical standard versions. They do take the money up front though when you pre-order. take the money just before dispatch and they have the games listed but not available to pre-order yet. Lost in Cult also have Thank Goodness You're Here! and Immortality standard physical versions to pre-order too. Andrew I have been avoiding the game sites today, so when I watch the new Nintendo Direct I watch it without any spoilers. Currently playing: The Last Campfire (PS4 version on PS5) and The Messenger (PS5 physical version) Hard memories Definitely a great anniversary to celebrate the Amiga 1000 and all the versions of the Amiga that came out after. My first gaming machine was the Commodore Amiga 500 Plus with the Cartoon Classics package, including The Simpsons: Bart Vs. The Space Mutants, Lemmings, Captain Planet, and Deluxe Paint 3. All of these were varying in quality but Lemmings was the exceptional one, with it becoming a super classic game. I found a lot of these games very challenging and very old school, with not many mechanics which I enjoyed as much as the later SNES and Mega Drive games. Bart Vs. The Space Mutants was so difficult, with extreme precision jumping and some not too obvious puzzles and was something I had to admit defeat on. To be honest, the amount of games I completed on the Amiga was so low in comparison to ones I failed at, though not through lack of trying. I think games were still being designed like the Spectrum and old Commodore games and were harder than FromSoftware's games. I think that's why I preferred the later 16-bit consoles. As hard as games were they weren't as hard as the retro games of this home generation of gaming computers in the '80s and '90s. But games like Turrican, Mega-Lo-Mania, Chaos Engine, Monkey Island, Canon Fodder, Speedball, North And South, Zool, Shadow Of The Beast, Wolfchild, and Jim Power. All or most where graphically amazing at the time, with some awesome, memorable tunes. Overall, it was a great system, with Lemmings being the best at adapting difficulty and making it a fair learning curve. But the memories were great and got me interested in gaming and set my course for my gaming hobby into console gaming and on into the present day. So there's a lot to celebrate the 40th anniversary of one of gaming's finest bits of technology. Alucard Inbox also-rans I don't know what to say about that Pikachu with breasts story except… wow. Actually I do know what to say: can I have someone of what those marketing execs are having. Lobo I'd never dream of playing an online shooter for any stretch of time, so I have no real interest in Battlefield 6, but I've got to say, those are some nice graphics it's sporting. Gangrene More Trending Email your comments to: gamecentral@ The small print New Inbox updates appear every weekday morning, with special Hot Topic Inboxes at the weekend. Readers' letters are used on merit and may be edited for length and content. You can also submit your own 500 to 600-word Reader's Feature at any time via email or our Submit Stuff page, which if used will be shown in the next available weekend slot. You can also leave your comments below and don't forget to follow us on Twitter. MORE: Games Inbox: When is the next State of Play for PS5? MORE: Games Inbox: Is there a secret Nintendo Switch 2 Christmas game? MORE: Games Inbox: Are gamers too entitled about video games?
