Jay Z has another problem to add to his list after being summoned for trial in October over the sampling of a 1960s Egyptian track on his 2000 hit Big Pimpin’.
The court case follows a seven-year claim that Jay Z and producer Timbaland used the melody from Abdel Halim Hafez’s song Khosara Khosara without attaining the proper licences.
Hafez died in 1977 but one of his heirs, Osama Ahmed Fahmy, filed for alleged copyright infringement in 2007.
Fahmy’s lawyer, Keith Wesley, told the Guardian: “They used it with a song that even by Jay Z’s own admission is very vulgar and base.
“That’s really why this is so significant to my client. They not only took music without paying. They’re using it in a song that is, frankly, disgusting.”
The opening lines of Big Pimpin’ include the lyrics, ‘You know I, thug em, f**k em, love em, leave em ’cause I don’t f**king need em’, although Jay Z has since said that the track no longer reflects his views on women.
