Dallas DE Greg Hardy and music producer are at odds over release of rap album

Dallas Cowboys defensive end Greg Hardy released his debut rap album, “Governing Past Dues,” on iTunes back in July.

Actually, that’s not quite correct. A rap album featuring Hardy’s rhymes is available as a $7.22 download on iTunes, but the 2013 Pro Bowler says he had nothing to do with its release.

A producer who goes by the name DJ Many tweeted an announcement of the release on Wednesday: “Peek·A·Boo! I Just Released Greg Hardy’s New Album That I Produced On @AppleMusic At https://GH.DJMany.com.”

But on July 23, Hardy, who goes by the Twitter handle @OverlordKraken, tweeted out a screen grab of the iTunes page selling the album, along with this caption: “Don’t go buy this crap someone stole my old stuff & threw some BS edits on it & put it out pretending to be with me.”

Hardy is an aspiring rapper but said he hasn’t officially released any music. He tweeted: “the real ones are coming soon just been getting ready for camp so it got delayed a bit.”

But four days later, DJ Many started telling his side of the story on Twitter, saying Hardy hired him to produce the album but never paid him. The 22-year-old even tweeted out a photo of what appears to be the copyrights and legal ownership of the music.

“It’s Simple Greg Hardy Owes Me 40K And My Lawyer Have Tried To Collect But Greg Won’t Pay So I Dropped The Album Because I Legally Own It!!!” tweeted DJ Many, whose online bio says he is a DJ, recording artist, producer and songwriter.

He added: “Greg Hardy Want’s To Get On Twitter And Lie To His Fans And Tell Them How That’s Not Really His Album, It’s Your Album You Just Don’t Own It.”

DJ Many also addressed the issue in a blog on his website.

Unlike Hardy, DJ Many wants people to buy the album, which he continues to plug on Twitter to his more than 1.1 million followers. And business seems to be booming.

“Those Greg Hardy Album Sales Looking Nice,” DJ Many tweeted on July 30, adding, “All Those $7s Add Up Boy!”

Hardy signed with the Cowboys as a free agent this off-season after spending his first five NFL seasons with the Carolina Panthers. He was suspended for 10 games in April for violating the league’s personal conduct policy in relation to domestic violence charges against him that were eventually dropped.

He appealed the suspension and an arbitrator reduced it to four games earlier this month.