Jay-z & Kanye West Facing Lawsuit Over Unauthorised Sample
Thursday, 25 August 2011
Written by Elliott Batte
Jay-Z and Kanye West, now known as The Throne, are set to become embroiled in a court case after they used an unauthorised sample in their new album ‘Watch the Throne’.
Throne track ‘The Joy’ uses a sample of blues singer Syl Johnson’s 1967 single ‘Different Strokes’, but does not credit Johnson or the correct publishing company in the liner notes. The 75 year-old musician allegedly called Numero Group, a publishing company that works closely with Syl, crying after hearing his work used in the hip-hop duo’s track, which features on their debut album.
Numero Group have known about the use of the sample for a long time, after the track it was featured on debuted online over a year ago. But, because the pair of rappers weren’t selling the track, Numero found it extremely difficult to win any money for Johnson. But now, with the album on sale everywhere, Johnson and Numero are ready to take legal action that could see the soul man receive a hefty amount of cash.
“Syl's getting a huge pay day,” said a Numero spokesperson. “Island Def Jam seems to think that Syl doesn't have any fight left in him, we're betting otherwise.
“We spent the better part of five months trying to get paid, and finally handed it to our lawyer who recommended not pursuing legal action as the song wasn't actually being sold.
“Eventually Kanye was going to want to clear some other part of our catalogue, and we'd get Syl his money with leverage.”
It is not the first time Syl has been sampled by a hip-hop group – he was once used in a Cypress Hill track, and, interestingly enough, he lost a $29million court case after trying to take legal action on them.
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