DJ and rap pioneer Orrin Lynn Tolliver, Jr. has scored almost $1.2 million over the sample in Black Eyed Peas ‘My Humps’.
Reuters reports that a New York jury has awarded him almost $1.2 million for the illegal sampling of his 1983 tune ‘I Need A Freak'.
Tolliver recorded the song for a dubiously-monikered concept act called Sexual Harrassment with collaborator James McCant.
McCant registered the song with BMI, giving Tolliver 75% of the songwriting royalties.
‘I Need A Freak’ then appeared on a 2000 compilation In Da Beginning...There Was Rap, and Tolliver sent him a cease-and-desist letter but McCant said he never issued the license.
McCant then claimed he co-authored the song, then tried to show ‘My Humps’ didn’t sample the song, he claimed he owned the entire song through copyright assignment.
Ultimately, the jury ruled against McCant to the tune of US$1,185,581.50 in profits and damages.
If that first cease-and-desist letter had been abided by, we may never have had the Black Eyed Peas’ ‘My Humps’. We’ll leave the qualitative assessment to our readers.
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