Judge halts sales and radio play of Biggie's debut album

[Pittsey]

A federal judge has halted sales of Notorious B.I.G.'s breakthrough 1994 album Ready to Die after a jury decided the title song used part of an Ohio Players tune without permission.

The jury awarded $4.2 million in punitive and direct damages to the two music companies that own rights to Ohio Players recordings on Friday.


To "vindicate the integrity of the copyright law," U.S. District Judge Todd Campbel banned all store sales, Internet downloads and radio play of Ready to Die.

The jury decided that Bad Boy Entertainment and executive producer Sean "Diddy" Combs illegally used a part of the Ohio Players' 1992 song "Singing in the Morning."

Lawyers for Combs said the verdict was without merit and vowed to appeal the decision.

The ruling and harsh penalty are expected to make waves in the rap industry, which routinely takes beats or melodies from older hits in what is known as sampling.

 

[Exodus]

how they gonna stop sellin such a classic album :fury:

 

[FroDawgg]

^^^yeah it sucks, but once bad boy gets it settled, it'll be back on shelves.

 

[Nick]

Why'd it take them all these years to bring it to court? It's not like the album just dropped lol

 

[PuffnScruff]

samples can go under the radar with out being noticed for years or some times never even get noticed at all. plus who knows how long the person who owns the right to the ohio players song has been trying to get this too court.

 

[tv-lover]

how they gonna stop sellin such a classic album :fury:

what, you haven't got your copy yet?

 

[Casey]

oh dear oh dear oh dear. this is bad news for puffy and bad boy.

The lead singer of the Ohio Players is a guy named Sugarfoot. He did a solo album in the 80's named "Sugar Kiss" which was entirely produced by Roger Troutman. It's a dope-ass album.

But while googling some information on him, I came across an interview with him....and what came across from the interview is that Sugarfoot HATES sampling with a passion. There's no way he's gonna give clearance for this now. They're gonna have to remake the song! haha. Either that or Ready 2 Die gets pulled.

 

[Diaz]

Psh, fuck Sugarfoot. The Ohio Players are one of the most sampled groups ever. He should be proud.

So, it's out of stores now? If I'd go to the store right now it wouldn't be there?

 

[EDouble]

Lol I Thought This Was Gonnabe Like A Judge In L.a. Halting It While Lookin For Evidence In The Shootin

 

[Exodus]

what, you haven't got your copy yet?

i got the og press and the re-release

 

[PuffnScruff]

Psh, fuck Sugarfoot. The Ohio Players are one of the most sampled groups ever. He should be proud.

So, it's out of stores now? If I'd go to the store right now it wouldn't be there?

you dont understand. lots of musicians, and when i say musicians i mean people that play instruments and who actually creat original music, do not like sampling. they find it discraceful, it ruins their work, and plenty of other reasons for not liking sampling. many old school musicians feel this way.

 

[Diaz]

you dont understand. lots of musicians, and when i say musicians i mean people that play instruments and who actually creat original music, do not like sampling. they find it discraceful, it ruins their work, and plenty of other reasons for not liking sampling. many old school musicians feel this way.

I know, I was half-joking when I said that.

 

[Bigg Limn]

So does this mean you get arrested for listening to it?

 

[Pittsey]

So, it's out of stores now? If I'd go to the store right now it wouldn't be there?

I'd say pretty much 100% sure it will still be on sale. Try ordering it from Amazon, bet you can.

So does this mean you get arrested for listening to it?

No.

 

[Don_Giovani]

Puffy does that all the time with his production.. most if not all Bad Boy hits have included samples of old songs

 

[Bigg Limn]

Puffy does that all the time with his production.. most if not all Bad Boy hits have included samples of old songs

most rap songs in general have included samples of old songs...

 

[mr-meth]

haha sampling is just proof that you can't produce worth shit I.E. P Diddy and Kanye West

 

[pclvson]

ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha


b.i.g must be laughing in his grave, that bitch ain't getting ALL MY MONEY

 

[KAMIKAZI]

you dont understand. lots of musicians, and when i say musicians i mean people that play instruments and who actually creat original music, do not like sampling. they find it discraceful, it ruins their work, and plenty of other reasons for not liking sampling. many old school musicians feel this way.

I didn't hear them complaining when Red Hot Chili Peppers did a cover of "Love Rollercoaster" for the Beavis and Butthead movie soundtrack... and "Funky Worm" is one of the most sampled songs in hiphop. Now they're getting an album that was released over a decade ago by an artist that's now dead pulled off shelves.

I don't see how it ruins their work, I would've never heard of artists like Ohio Players and Bob James if it weren't for them being sampled so much... better that their music is sampled and modernized then forgotten over time.

 

[PuffnScruff]

I didn't hear them complaining when Red Hot Chili Peppers did a cover of "Love Rollercoaster" for the Beavis and Butthead movie soundtrack... and "Funky Worm" is one of the most sampled songs in hiphop. Now they're getting an album that was released over a decade ago by an artist that's now dead pulled off shelves.

I don't see how it ruins their work, I would've never heard of artists like Ohio Players and Bob James if it weren't for them being sampled so much... better that their music is sampled and modernized then forgotten over time.

i agree, there are lots of old artists i would never had listened too or even cared about searching out their music if it wasnt for hip hop sampling their work, and that is a big argument that people use for the pros of sampling.

as for love rollercoaster, it really depends on who owns the rights. sometimes the artists dont even own ther rights at all or maybe just a few select songs.