50 Cent has been
hit with a copyright infringement lawsuit over his hit single "In Da Club,"
claiming the lyrics to the song were lifted from an earlier recording by Luther
Campbell. Attorney Joseph Weinberger, owner of Lil’ Joe Records, filed the lawsuit
in Miami federal court, claiming 50’s famous "Go shorty,it’s your birthday"
lines were actually lifted from Campbell’s song "It’s Your Birthday,"
originally released on Campbell’s 1994 album Still a Freak for Life.
Weinberger once represented Campbell and obtained the copyrights to albums by
the 2 Live Crew and Luke as a solo artist after Campbell was forced into bankruptcy.
"In Da Club" was one of the biggest hits on 50 Cent’s blockbuster
major label debt, Get Rich or Die Tryin’. Weinberger is represented
by Miami based attorney Richard Wolfe.
Mystikal went before a parole
board on Jan. 19 seeking to be released from his six-year sentence. Sources
close to Mystikal told AllHipHop.com that the Grammy nominated rapper was denied
parole. On Jan. 12, U.S. District Judge James Brady sentenced the rapper to
an additional year for failing to report almost $2 million in earnings from
1998-1999. The judge allowed the rapper to serve the one-year sentence concurrently
with a state sentence for sexual battery against his former hairstylist. Mystikal
is serving time for forcing a woman to perform oral sex after he caught her
writing $80,000 in bogus checks. He was sentenced to six years in prison.