Black Coffee ‘bought a Maserati instead of paying commission’ – report

Award-winning House music DJ Black Coffee confirmed to tabloid Sunday World that he is involved in a legal battle with copyright law expert Graeme Gilfillian.

At the centre of the dispute is an alleged amount of R600 000 Gilfillian may be owed by the DJ after organising a lucrative deal with Vodacon for Coffee, real name Nathi Maphumulo.

Gilfillian’s company, Nisa, worked with Black Coffee from 2005 to 2014 and reportedly clinched a Vodacom sponsorship for him worth R6 million. Gilfillian may have expected 10% of that money to come his way and has apparently been refusing to release confidential files to Maphumulo’s record label, Soulistic Music, until the amount is paid.

However, it is uncertain what the disputed amount actually may be, and what it relates to.

Black Coffee, Sunday World reports, has now sued Gilfillian to try to force him to hand over about 60 files in his possession.

Gilfillian confirmed to the tabloid that he would not hand over the files until “outstanding amounts due to Nisa” were paid. He, however, did not want to share any details on whether this was linked to any Vodacom deal.

The tabloid’s source, however, said that it was indeed mainly about the amount of R600 000. The source alleged that “Graeme [Gilfillian] complained that instead of paying him, he [Black Coffee] bought himself a new car, apparently an Aston Martin or Maserati”.

The source said the files included contracts for [Black Coffee] and his artists, but “Graeme told him to go to hell”.