Quavo was sued by New York visual artist Daniel Arsham, who used his iconic sculpture in promotional videos without permission.
Famous artist sued Quavo for “stolen” sculpture in video
Daniel Arsham has been in contact with hip-hop for many years. Most of his works bridge the gap between art and architecture, which is the erosion technique used in his sculptures. He carved Jay-Z’s hand tossed the ROC symbol for the rapper’s Hov exhibition in 2023 and created a Gunna-like charm on the cover of his DS4Ver album in 2022.
Despite a collaborative approach to working with Arsham of these rappers, Quavo faces legal action to put Arsham’s Ferrari sculpture into the video without having to obtain its use license. Arsham claims he never agreed to the artwork used in the editing.
Acquired by XXL on April 9, the former Migos member was accused of eroding the 1961 Ferrari GT from Arsham’s 2018 Arsham Artwork Quartz, a full-size vehicle sculpture, a 45-second promotional video with a basic foundation for 2025! ”
The video, published on various social media accounts on December 16, 2024, shows the rapper performing his song “Trappa Rappa”, which was officially released on February 21, 2025 while standing in front of Arsham’s Ferrari’s work and sitting in front of Arsham’s Ferrari’s work. Quavo also posted photos on his Instagram account in front of Arsham’s car and tagged the artist’s IG handle.
“The next day, Quavo posted a series of five images through his Instagram profile, which were still images of the infringing video, or appeared to have been taken at the same time (“infringing post”),” the lawsuit read. “The images in the infringing post were in front of the work with the caption ‘No engine at the back of the front n, I’m not in carbon carbon on the back!” In the infringing post, Quavo tagged Mr. Arsham’s Instagram handle, @Danielarsham was the image of the infringing post. ”
In addition to Quavo, Arsham also sued Quality Control Music, and record label Quavo signed a $320 million QCM partnership with America in 2023.
“QCM has practical or constructive knowledge of the tort activities complained about in this article, has substantial involvement in the above activities, has the correct and ability to control the above activities, and is able to achieve, realize and continue to realize, from there, direct and indirect financial benefits,” the lawsuit. ”
Arsham seeks damage and injunction relief to infringe direct, contribution and alternative copyright. He also hopes a jury trial. While there is no specific currency amount in the lawsuit, Arsham’s lawyers do include his artwork for sale “hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
XXL has contacted lawyers for Quavo and Quality Control Music and Daniel Arsham.
Read more: Quavo must pay a man $682,000 to take occupants of the worker before shooting in a hotel – Report
Check out the car sculpture in the Quavo video below.
