Photographer Sues Rapper Future for Using His Copyrighted Image on Album Cover

Nov 20, 2025

Pesala Bandara

A dark house surrounded by trees at night, with glowing pink light shining from the windows and door. A mailbox and a parental advisory label are visible in the front yard. — A photographer has sued rapper Future for ‘stealing’ his image of the famed Dungeon Family Home to use on his Pluto Mixtape album cover (seen above).

A photographer has sued rapper Future for allegedly using his copyrighted picture without permission on his album cover.

Future, who is one of the most influential and best-selling rappers of his generation, released his album Mixtape Pluto in September 2024. The album debuted straight at number one on the Billboard 200, moving 129,000 album-equivalent units in its first week.

Future’s Mixtape Pluto featured cover art of a photo of the Dungeon Family house illuminated by magenta lights at midnight. The house, located at 1907 Lakewood Terrace in Atlanta, Georgia (which is Future’s hometown) is a legendary property in Southern hip-hop history. It served as the basement studio for the Dungeon Family collective, whose members included OutKast, TLC, Goodie Mob (with CeeLo Green), and Future himself. Many classic tracks were produced at this property.

Atlanta-based architectural photographer Gary Gomez filed a lawsuit against Future in the United States District Court for the Central District of California last month, claiming that he took the original photo used on Future’s Mixtape Pluto album cover. The photographer says the rapper used his image without his permission. Gomez is an architecture and interiors photographer with over 10 years of experience, according to his website. He works with award-winning architects, interior designers, construction firms, and homebuilders across the U.S. to create beautiful portfolio imagery to showcase their work.

A small, red-brick house with a prominent central chimney and peaked roof sits among large green trees and a grassy lawn. White trim surrounds the windows and front door. — Photographer Gary Gomez says he took the original photo of the property (seen above) that was altered and used by Future on his cover art.

According to the lawsuit reported by XXLMag, Gomez took the original photo of the Dungeon Family House in 2021 and registered it with the Register of Copyrights in June of that year. He later discovered that Future had used an altered version of the photo as the cover art for Mixtape Pluto, noticing the infringement about a month after the album’s 2024 release. Court filings also allege that Gomez’s photo appeared on related merchandise, including T-shirts sold through Future’s online store. Additionally, Gomez claims that Future used another one of his images of the property without permission.

The photographer is suing Titol Retail and Wilburn Holding Company, which he identified as entities connected to Future (born Nayvadius DeMun Cash) and his record label, Freebandz. In the lawsuit, Gomez alleges that the defendants “copied Gomez’s copyrighted works from the internet in order to advertise, market and promote their business activities” and used them “for purposes of advertising and promoting sales to the public.”

The photographer claims “irreparable” harm and is seeking unspecified damages, including “profits attributable to the infringement.” He is asking for a jury trial.

Image credits: All photos via court documents.