Friday, January 20, 2006

Yo! Whose Copyright?

AP—“Rapper 50 Cent stole some of the lyrics for his 2003 hit "In Da Club" from a song by former 2 Live Crew frontman Luther Campbell, an attorney claims in a lawsuit.”

Let me get this straight: Rappers steal… uh, borrow? Sample. Yes, they “sample” music from other singers and songwriters, produce it as their work and when someone “samples” their “work” they sue? Is that what this is? I'm just trying to be clear.

Maybe it’s because I don’t listen to most rap music* but the irony of a thief crying “Thief!” is not lost upon me.

“Oh,” you’re saying in that tsk-tsk-tsk-I’m-so-enlightened-tone, “why must you call Luther Campbell a thief?” Well, I reply in my best kiss-my-ass-you-pompous-jerk-tone, it’s because he recently lost a $2.3 million lawsuit for exactly the same thing. In an even bigger twist, the attorney that was successful in getting the verdict against Campbell is his attorney in this case. Talk about job security…

What’s the point? My point is I don’t have a point, but that’s never stopped me from writing. In fact, I believe I’ve sampled my “my point is I don’t have a point” from a number of very funny comedians. Go on and sue me.***








*with the exception of Run DMC, Eminem, and Flavor Flav!** Hey, Flav! Word up for “Fight the power”—Power to the People!

**yeah, yeah, Public Enemy… I know… I know. (However, I'm less sure about the footnote within a footnote thing I just did...)

*** Go on… see if I care. I’ll just turn around and sue someone else.

2 comments:

Miladysa said...

lol! Only in America but coming to the UK soon :)

Unknown said...

Good footwork on the double fott note. I loved it.

Flavo-Flave (or however you spell that) needs to get rid of the watch, man. The eighties are over.

Fight the Timex!!!! That's what I say!