The 'Anaconda' female rapper wants a jury trial in an effort to clear her name as she's slapped with a copyright infringement lawsuit over a leaked song called 'Sorry'.
- Aug 26, 2020
AceShowbiz - Nicki Minaj is pushing for a jury trial to determine the outcome of the copyright infringement lawsuit filed against her by singer Tracy Chapman.
The rapper was hit with the court action in October, 2018, after New York DJ Funkmaster Flex obtained a copy of the song "Sorry", which featured Minaj's ex, hip-hop legend Nas, and contained a sample of Chapman's 1988 track "Baby Can I Hold You".
The "Anaconda" hitmaker had originally intended to include the tune on her album "Queen", but ended up releasing the project without "Sorry" as she encountered clearance issues.
Minaj had previously insisted she did nothing wrong, arguing the sample falls under the fair use category of copyright law, and requested the case be dismissed.
However, she has since decided to seek a jury trial to clear her name.
In her latest legal filing, Minaj admits she had initially planned to leak the track to Funkmaster Flex, teasing the exclusive in a direct message via Instagram.
"Sorry" debuted on air a week later, and subsequently made its way to the Internet - prompting Chapman's ire, but Minaj claims it didn't come from her.
"At the time I sent these messages, I intended to send Flex a copy of Sorry to play on his radio program," she testified, according to The Hollywood Reporter. "That day, however, I had a change of heart. I never sent the recording."
Flex also testified that he had obtained "Sorry" from one of his "bloggers," not from the star or her recording engineer, who had been in the studio with the rappers at the time, and when Minaj heard the news, she warned him, "You can only play official album material sir."
As a result, Minaj's attorney Peter Ross argued the evidence "in many instances directly contradicts Chapman's story", which holds the 37 year old accountable for passing along the tune, and "leaves open many possibilities as to 'who done it (sic)?' "
"We do not know to whom management, the record label, or the clearance team may have sent a copy," Ross continued, before suggesting Minaj's collaborator could be to blame.
"And Nas had a copy, as Chapman notes in her own motion. He, of course, would be an obvious target, if Flex and his interns were reaching out to a source to find the recording."
The case continues.
