'Big Pimpin' Copyright Case To Feature Jay-Z

Jay-Z’s 1997 smash hit, “Big Pimpin,” has been the source of one of the longest-running lawsuits in the U.S., and the rapper will soon testify before a jury. The song features Jay-Z rapping over a sample from the Baligh Hamdi composition “Khosara, Khosara,” featured in the 1960 Egyptian film “Fata ahlami.” In 2007 Osama Ahmed Fahmy, the nephew of Hamdi, sued Jay-Z, music producer Timbaland, EMI, Universal Music, Paramount Pictures, and MTV, among others. Timbaland paid music label EMI $100,000 for rights to use the sample, in hopes of ending the dispute, but Hamdi persisted. Now, Jay-Z’s side has cited the “lump-sum buyout” deal with EMI in 2002, which they say means he gave up all rights. Hamdi’s representation claims those agreements were not valid. The lawsuit may also touch on whether the expression in “Khosara, Khosara” is original enough to be copyrighted, whether rights were forfeited by general publication, and whether Fahmy waited too long to make a challenge over “Big Pimpin.”