Veteran Hip-Hop act Doug E. Fresh has reportedly joined forces with a publishing company to launch a multi-million dollar lawsuit against Fox hit series, Empire. According to the recently announced suit, season two of the series lifted a Doug E. Fresh song for a sample on a track produced by Timbaland.
According to a press release, Fresh’s 1993 hit song “I-Ight” featuring Lil Vicious was sampled for a track titled “No Doubt About It” which was performed by Pitbull and Jussie Smollett. The track also made an appearance on the album Empire: Season 2 Volume 1. Fresh and his cohorts Rasheed Rahan Wonder of Wonderboy Entertainment and songwriter Unique Mecca Hall are also named as plaintiffs.
Adding to the complexity of the suit, the group contends that Hall’s “I-Ight” chant that Fresh used in the track has been legally applied for several tracks prior to the sampling. Wonder is handling the matter on behalf of Hall but is doing so while serving a life sentence for a Continuing Criminal Enterprise Statute, better known as the Kingpin Statute.
So far, a response from the creators or legal team of Empire has yet to materialize.
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Photo: FOX
