For once the court sides with Fif, after this producer tried to get more cash out of one of 50’s classic staple hits.
Back in June, producer Brandon Parrott sued 50 Cent, producer Denaun Porter, UMG Recordings, Interscope, Aftermath Records, Shady Records and EMI Music Publishing for swiping a sample that was used in 50’s 2003 hit “P.I.M.P.” In 2001, Parrott had sent Dr. Dre (50’s than producer for you young cats), a track called BAMBA, which ended up in 50 Cent’s 2003 Get Rich Or Die Trying album. The parties reached a financial settlement, Fif and co. citing the sample was inadvertently put in final version of the song.
Some 13 years later, Parrott comes forward and claims that he had evidence that it wasn’t an honest mistake and tried to sue 50 for a bigger cut (50’s tv show now Power is very successful).
The judge wasn’t buying what he was selling:
“[No] reasonable music composer in Parrott’s position could have relied ‘in good faith’ upon a co-producer’s statements that the composer’s music had ‘mistakenly’ been incorporated into millions of infringing tracks without anyone notifying or crediting him,” U.S. District Judge S. James Otero wrote. “Moreover, assuming the truth of Parrott’s FAC [first amended complaint], as the Court must at this stage, the only plausible inference is that Parrott failed to conduct any investigation in the truth behind Porter’s statements. Thus, Parrott’s own allegations defeat his claims.”
