Kanye, Common, Method Face the Music

Rappers sued over unauthorized sampling of late jazz musician in three separate tracks

By Gina Serpe May 23, 2008 2:29 PMTags
Kanye WestMichael Caulfield/WireImage.com

Not such a rapper's delight, this.

Kanye West, Common, Method Man and Redman, along with their respective Universal Music Group record companies, were sued Thursday by the daughter of late jazz musician Joe Farrell for sampling his music sans permission.

Adding further unoriginal insult to copycat injury, each of the rappers used snippets from the same tune, Farrell's 1974 composition "Upon This Rock."

The lawsuit, filed by scorned offspring Kathleen Firantello, claims West sampled the tune in 2005 on Late Registration's "Gone," Common in "Chi-City," a bonus track on his 2005 album Be, and Method Man and Redman in their 1999 joint track, "Run 4 Cover."

Firantello is seeking punitive damages of at least $1 million and an order that no more copies of the offending songs be made, sold or performed.

This sort of thing would never happen to Diddy.