Rod Wave Hit With New Lawsuit Over Last Lap Album Cover
Rod Wave is facing a fresh legal challenge over the cover art for his 2024 album Last Lap. Tampa-based photographer Allan Salas has filed a lawsuit, alleging the rapper and his team used one of his images without permission, profiting from it on album art, merchandise, and tour promotion.
According to Billboard, the complaint filed on December 11 claims that Salas captured the photograph during Rod Wave’s August 2024 hometown concert. The image, showing the rapper gripping a mic stand mid-performance, later became the official Last Lap album cover. Salas says he was never compensated, never licensed the image, and that Rod Wave’s team ignored warnings that he retained ownership rights.
The lawsuit alleges that the unlicensed image was not only used on the album but also widely applied across promotional materials for Rod Wave’s 28-date arena tour and on merchandise, including T-shirts. “Even though the defendants had already commercially released the album, which contained unauthorized uses of the photograph, the defendants doubled down and tripled down on their unauthorized use,” the filing reportedly states.
Last Lap debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and spent 56 weeks on the chart. Salas contends that the album’s commercial success only increased the financial damages caused by the unauthorized use. The photographer says he was granted access to shoot the Tampa concert under the condition that he retained ownership of his images. Despite this, Rod Wave’s team allegedly used the photo across multiple revenue-generating platforms without a license or payment.
This is not the first legal issue Rod Wave has faced. Earlier in 2025, he was served a $27 million lawsuit from former concert promoter Grizzly Touring LLC, which accused him of breaching contracts and failing to return advance payments.
The outcome of these lawsuits remains uncertain, but the latest filing underscores ongoing disputes over intellectual property and contractual obligations in Rod Wave’s career.
