Hip Hop’s most popular artists have a huge lawsuit on their hands. The Batiste Brothers Band, a Jazz based group that is popular in Louisiana that was formed in New Orleans during 1976, has claimed that many big rap songs were illegally sampled from their catalogue. The lawsuit is a 100 million dollar lawsuit that indicates that rappers have been steeling similar vocals, beats, melodies, and even song titles from the legendary band.
Rumors have it that specific songs such as “All I Do Is Win” by DJ Khaled as well as “Booty Wurk” , “Freeze” (which is a titled of one of their songs), “Blame It” by T-Pain were stolen from many songs created by the renown Batiste Band. Trying to go listen to these songs right now on youtube might not be possible as some have been taken down or mysteriously unable to play after the stated Lawsuit.
The lawsuit was filed last week in the Eastern District of Louisiana through the United States District Court by Paul Batiste, the Batiste Brother band leader. The lawsuit targets almost all big record labels and some of hip hop’s most popular artists for illegally sampling their music. specific artists and record labels stated were DJ Khaled, Rick Ross, T-Pain, Pitbull, Ace Hood, Cash Money records, Def Jam, Universal, RCA records, Sony, EMI Blackwood, and WB Music.
The Batiste Band is very popular in Louisiana, however is a new name to many which makes it hard to believe these accusations. The Batiste’s are serious and have had lawsuits in the past against some big bands they have one. Paul Batiste wrote on his website, ”The litigations took a toll and frustrated our efforts to grow in the music industry … They take up all your time and the results are sometimes little, but we had no choice but to claim what is ours.” hinting that they do not want to do these things but feel it is necessary to get what they deserve and to keep the music business honest. The defendants haven’t responded yet but I’m sure they are watching there steps to try and not be charged with the 100 million dollar charge.
