EXCLUSIVE: Chad Hugo Has “No Idea” Which Songs He Wrote, Pharrell Claims As Neptunes Lawsuit Gets Bitter

Chad Hugo “has no idea” which songs he helped write, Pharrell’s lawyer claims as their fight over cash and credit gets bitter.

Pharrell and his lawyers filed a request on October 6 to throw out key claims in Hugo’s latest lawsuit.

Hugo wants two things from the case: his share of cash from their work and a ruling on which song rights he owns. The money claims cover pay from The Neptunes and N.E.R.D., plus the books that would show how much he should get.

The song-rights claims ask the judge to find that Hugo owns a share of tracks he says he helped make. He named eight works in an earlier draft, plus other unnamed music.

Hugo still leaves room for more works, but Pharrell’s team says it cannot tell which songs or recorded tracks he means.

“As incomprehensible as it is, it appears that Hugo has no idea which compositions or sound recordings he supposedly authored – even though he claims to have been there, right by [Pharrell’s] side, the whole time,” Pharrell’s lawyer, Edwin F. McPherson, explained.

Pharrell wants the judge to throw out the song-rights claims and Hugo’s bid to learn what cash came from those works.

McPherson says Hugo must name his role on each track and make clear which rights he claims for his work. Pharrell’s team says Hugo should know what he wrote or played.

“[Pharrell and his production company] are not asking Hugo to disclose or produce evidence. They are asking that he simply identify what ‘works’ he claims to have co-authored. This is exclusively within his own knowledge,” Pharrell’s lawyer, Edwin F. McPherson, reasoned.

The wider fight over pay began in January when Hugo claimed Pharrell kept cash from him and would not share their books. Hugo says he asked for an accounting in 2021 but still lacks key facts about what their songs and deals brought in.

Those claims include N.E.R.D., the band Hugo formed with Pharrell and Shay Haley that mixed Hip-Hop with rock and funk.

Hugo says his missing pay for N.E.R.D.’s 2017 album No One Ever Really Dies could reach $1 million for that release alone. The two also fought over their brand in 2024 when Hugo opposed Pharrell’s bid to claim The Neptunes name through his own firm.

Pharrell’s team told Billboard it sought to keep others from taking the name and had asked Hugo to share the rights.

Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo met as kids at a Virginia Beach summer camp, then built a music career with Teddy Riley’s help.

They turned that bond into a run of hits that put their sound at the heart of rap and pop radio.

Their work ranged from Nelly’s “Hot in Herre” to Britney Spears’ “I’m a Slave 4 U” and Clipse’s spare, hard-hitting “Grindin’.”

The Neptunes won the 2004 Grammy for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical, then entered the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2022.