To settle the contentious lawsuit over copyright infringement, Nicki Minaj has decided to pay Tracy Chapman an amount of $450,000.
A judge ruled in September last year that the rapper did not commit copyright infringement when she produced a song based on an interpolation of the song 'Baby Can I Hold You' by Tracy Chapman. In 2018, Chapman sued Minaj for interpolating her song without her permission in the rapper's unreleased Nas collaboration 'Sorry' The song was intended to land on her last Queen album, but eventually did not make the cut.
Nicki had offered Tracy $450,000 to settle the matter which would mean that the two will not proceed to a trial later this year. The veteran singer-songwriter has accepted the amount which includes all costs and attorney fees related to the case, reports Hollywood Reporter. Nicki had allegedly given Funkmaster Flex the go ahead to play the sampled song on radio without prior permission from Chapman.
According to court papers in the case, Nicki and her reps sought a license to Chapman’s song. One of the clearance specialists put on the task is said to have known that Chapman was on the “do not sample list” which is an unwritten list of artists that were known for not allowing samples of their works. Minaj’s team made efforts anyway, but Chapman rejected a request.
U.S. District Court Judge Virginia Phillips came to the conclusion that Minaj had a fair use right to use the song in the studio to enable musical experimentation — “A ruling uprooting these common practices would limit creativity and stifle innovation within the music industry” but she did not get away with the fact that the song made it out to radio and eventually the internet.
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