(AllHipHop News) Tracy Chapman and Nicki Minaj are on their way to settling their beef over an unreleased song by the rap superstar.
The legal war erupted between the two stars over a sample of Tracy Chapman’s song “Baby Can I Hold You.”
Nicki sampled the song for a new track called “Sorry” featuring Nas, which was supposed to be on her fourth album Queen.
Tracy took Nicki to court after a copy of “Sorry” made its way to Funkmaster Flex, who debuted the unreleased record on Hot 97, just as Nicki was promoting her fourth album, Queen.
Tracy Chapman was enraged and sued Nicki for copyright infringement, while Nicki’s lawyers insisted the rapper did nothing wrong, invoking a defense of fair use under copyright laws.
After a year of back and forth in court, in which Tracy Chapman claimed Nicki Minaj was deliberately stalling, lawyers for both sides are in deep negotiations to bring the lawsuit to an amicable ending.
“Over the past several weeks, the parties have been actively discussing settlement,” a source affiliated with Nicki Minaj said.
“One of the impediments to settlement is that attorneys’ fees are mounting, and [Tracy Chapman] is seeking to recover her attorneys’ fees in this action. Thus, as the fees rise, the chances of reaching a settlement diminish,” a source connected to the case explained.
Lawyers for both sides hope to reach a settlement within the next two months.
If they cannot reach a settlement, the case is scheduled to go to trial on May 26th, 2020.