Juicy J and DJ Paul are being hit with a lawsuit over samples.
Juicy J and DJ Paul of Three 6 Mafia, the Oscar-winning southern rap group formed in 1991, and their label businesses (Select-O-Hits, S.A.T. Entertainment Music and Scale-A-Thon Entertainment) have been accused by Reggie Boyland, a rap label owner (of On The Strength Records and Bank Bag Publishing), of copyright infringement. The suit was filed by Boyland Aug. 7th in Atlanta District Court.
The complaint claims that two songs that Boyland controls, “Pimps In The House” and “Listen to the Lyrics,” both performed and written by the rap duo 8Ball & MJG on their debut record Listen To The Lyrics, were involved in several infringing copyrights by Three 6 Mafia, beginning in 1996. Boyland filed copyright applications for the songs in May of this year.
In the suit, Boyland makes several claims against Juicy and DJ Paul.
First, Boyland claims that Three 6 Mafia sampled “Listen to the Lyrics” on its second album Chapter 1: The End, in the song “Where Da Bud,” which was re-released in Nov., 2013 under the title “Where Da Bud At?” Second, that Three 6 Mafia’s sampling of 8Ball & MJG’s “Pimps in the House” on its third album, Chapter 2: World Domination, was licensed at the time of its release, but that a five-year agreement expired in 2002. Third, that the compilation record Three 6 Mafia Presents: Hypnotize Camp Posse samples “Listen to the Lyrics” on the song “Fie It On Up.” Fourth, that a version of “Where the Bud At?” titled “Where’s Da Bud Part 2,” included on Three 6 Mafia’s Greatest Hits, also improperly sampled “Listening to the Lyrics.”
Fifth, that Three 6 Mafia’s songs containing samples of Boyland’s copyrights were licensed and sampled themselves by other artists, adding a layer of complexity to the relatively straightforward case.
The complaint seeks an unspecified amount in damages, as well as an injunction against the defendants’ sale of the infringing works.
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