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| Nicki Minaj is being sued by singer Tracy Chapman, who alleges her song "Baby Can I Hold You" was sampled for Minaj's song "Sorry" without her permission. File Photo by Serena Xu-Ning/UPI |
By Ben Hooper, UPI
Tracy Chapman has filed a lawsuit against Nicki Minaj, alleging the rapper sampled one of the folk singer's songs without permission.
The lawsuit, filed Monday in California federal court, alleges Chapman's representatives denied repeated requests from Minaj's team to allow the hip hop artist to sample Chapman's song "Baby Can I Hold You" for Minaj's track, "Sorry," which features Nas.
"Sorry" was held back from Minaj's album, Queen, Aug. 10, but the lawsuit alleges a copy of the song was provided to New York radio DJ Funkmaster Flex, who played it on the air, leading to the track spreading online.
The suit claims Minaj's reps told Chapman's team that the new song was inspired by "Baby Can I Hold You," but Minaj tweeted Aug. 1 that she "had no clue" that "Sorry" contained a sample the song.
The lawsuit, which accuses Minaj of copyright infringement, is asking the court for an injunction barring Minaj and her team from exploiting "Sorry" and requiring them to take action to prevent third parties from exploiting the song.
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