Since releasing his mega-hit song, “Big Pimpin,” which Rolling Stone named as one of the top 500 songs of all-time, Jay-Z and
that many companies he’s done business with (Warner Bros., EMI,
Paramount, MTV, UMG, etc.) have been swamped with litigation from
various Egyptians who claim the hip-hop star infringed their
instantly-recognizable underlying hook.
The rapper has had a mixed record defending these claims. On one
hand, an Egyptian man who claims a valid license over the musical
composition “Khosara, Khosara,” which was used by Jay-Z in his
chart-topper, has repeatedly been unsuccessful in attempts to show that
he has standing to pursue a lawsuit. On the other hand, another Egyptian
man, the nephew of Egyptian composer Baligh Hamdy, who originally wrote the tune for the 1960 Egyptian film Fata Ahlami, has experienced much more success.
So much so that a coming trial might soon examine whether Jay-Z will have to hand over to this Egyptian, Osama Ahmed Fahmy, a percentage of his recent revenue from concerts.
