50 Cent a Thief?

[kgsilvas]

Rapper 50 Cent stole some of the lyrics for his 2003 hit "In Da Club" from a song by former 2 Live Crew frontman Luther Campbell, an attorney claims in a lawsuit.

Richard C. Wolfe filed the copyright infringement lawsuit against Curtis James Jackson, aka 50 Cent, in Miami federal court last week on behalf of Lil' Joe Wein Music.

Parts of "In Da Club," from the album "Get Rich or Die Tryin'", copy "It's Your Birthday," released in 1994 on Campbell's solo album "Still a Freak for Life," the lawsuit alleged.

A message left Friday for Wolfe was not immediately returned.

Lil' Joe Wein Music holds the copyright to "It's Your Birthday" and other songs Campbell produced with his rap group 2 Live Crew and as a solo artist. Lil' Joe Wein Music is owned by Joseph Weinberger, an attorney who formerly represented Campbell.

Campbell's song "I Like It, I love It" can also be heard on the 2003 DVD "50 Cent The New Breed," the lawsuit claims.

The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages in addition to attorneys' fees and other legal costs.

Wolfe won a $2.3 million judgment against Campbell in 1994 for another rapper who claimed Campbell withheld royalties.

A message left Friday for Dennis Dennehy, 50 Cent's publicist, was not immediately returned. Link (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060120/ap_en_mu/50_cent_lawsuit;_ylt=AplLMFswuGeKqPw_QH8y.mUnHL8C;_ylu=X3oDMTBidHQxYjh2BHNlYwN5bnN0b3J5)

[ialsohaveadream]

Uncle Luke! I've heard "It's your birthday", and other than the "Go ___, it's your birthday" line, I don't see much comparison.

Still, I'm rooting for Luke, just because I know some of that money would end up getting donated to the Hurricane football team. :)

[DarkFury]

Don't root too hard there IAHAD...

Luke isn't bringin' this suit... the guy who now owns the rights to Luke's "It's Your Birthday" song is the one doing this (Mr. Richard C. Wolfe).


Luke pretty much has stated that he has nothing to do with this lawsuit.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-ccent20jan20,0,1211077.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines



It's not Campbell who's suing 50 Cent, but the lawyer who helped push Campbell into bankruptcy.

In the fall of 1994, attorney Richard Wolfe won a $2.3 million judgment for rapper Peter Jones, who sued claiming his record's producer, Campbell, withheld royalties. That verdict, along with Campbell's expensive lifestyle, forced him into bankruptcy. By that point, Joseph Weinberger, a one-time lawyer for Campbell's record company, had made several hundred thousand dollars in loans to Campbell's business. He struck a deal to buy the rights to the songs Campbell wrote for his controversial group 2 Live Crew and later as a solo act, Luke, for $800,000 above what Campbell owed him.