Pras Says His Baby Mama Is Portraying Him As A Deadbeat Dad

“Ghetto Superstar” Pras says he’s getting a bad rap.

Close friends of the Brooklyn-born rapper, Praskazrel “Pras” Samuel Michel, tell Confidenti@l, a contentious child support case is costing the former Fugee important political capital while he's waiting for the legal system to run its course.

The 41-year-old, two-time Grammy-winning “Family Business” rapper is deep in the throes of a child-support case with his baby mama Angela Severiano, stemming from a brief fling that started on New Year’s Eve 2010, say members of Michel’s inner circle. The case is expected to be resolved in court Monday, though Pras is worried about the damage that’s already been done.

“He’s in the political arena and is really taking a hit,” said a longtime friend of the musician. Michel tells friends that he was being vetted to speak to the U.N. General Assembly next month, as he’s done in the past, but that won't happen now, allegedly because of the perception that he’s a deadbeat dad.

“They pulled him from the pool because they obviously can’t be associated with press like this,” says a close pal.
For Michel, access to government officials is necessary to advance pet causes like fighting poverty in Haiti and supporting renewable energy in the U.S. He’s even met with President Obama on more than one occasion.

“He’s not opposed to paying additional child support should the court order it based on the child’s needs,” says that same longtime pal, who’s been in constant touch with Michel since his son Landon was born in October 2010. “He’s not fighting his child.”

Michel now pays $3,100 a month to Severiano, who earned nearly $72,000 last year working for a local financial firm. She’s asking a judge to raise child support payments to $9,000 a month, claiming her current arrangement with Michel makes raising a 3-year-old son in her teeny, $2,200-a-month, 400-square-foot apartment on Manhattan's tony Upper East Side difficult.

But pals close to Michel argue that he submitted a $83,000 check to the NYC Child Support Processing Center in March 2013 to cover child support retroactive from the time Landon was born and is continuing to make monthly payments as ordered by the court.

“So why can’t she move again?” fumes Michel’s confidant.

According to Severiano’s attorney Kenneth Sternberg, his client is still playing catchup from the three years she and Pras were at odds.

“That was money that was due since the child support, and she had to deal with this without him,” said Sternberg, who insists his client’s interests are simply about a reaching a fair settlement and the sooner this all ends, the better.

“This case should be over already,” said Sternberg.

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