THEY FOUGHT THE LAW
Not to be outdone by Sean "Puffy" Combs, rapper--and Puffy protege--Jamal (Shyne) Barrow was slapped with a $6 million civil suit charging he assaulted a hoops rival who outshone him on the court. Robert Steinmetz contends Barrow threw a basketball at his face from five feet away during a pickup game at the Reebok Sports Club on Manhattan's upper West Side on July 11. Barrow then began punching Steinmetz, the suit says. Barrow claims the basketball belonged to Jennifer Lopez. The alleged incident occurred six months before Barrow and Combs were indicted in the shooting at Club New York that left three bystanders wounded, for which Barrow was charged with three counts of attempted murder.
Flutist James W. Newton is suing the Beastie Boys for $150,000 for the unauthorized use of a six-second solo flute passage from his song, "Choir." The Beasties allegedly used the sample in their track, "Pass The Mic," from 1992's "Check Your Head." The suit claims that the hip-hop group asked and was given permission to use the sample from Newton's label, ECM Records. Since the publishing is actually owned by Newton, giving him all the rights to his music, Newton claims that ECM Records had no right to grant permission. In his suit, Newton also names producer Mario Caldato Jr., Capitol Records, Grand Royal Records, Brooklyn Dust Music and Universal Polygram International Publishing. Even by New York standards, $150,000 is a lot to pay for six seconds of pleasure.
The Rolling Stones are being taken to court for stealing lyrics and music for their song "Saint Of Me," which was on their "Bridges To Babylon" album. Songwriting husband and wife Mark Gaillard and Mary Anderson have named the Stones, producer Don Was and The Dust Brothers, among others, in their copyright infringement suit. According to the suit, Gaillard and Anderson penned the song "Oh Yeah" in March 1979, copyrighted it in March '95 and recorded it in October '96 with engineer John Bernard in attendance. Bernard has also worked as an engineer with the Stones. The suit claims that "Oh Yeah"—with minor changes to the lyrics and music—became "Saint Of Me." The couple is seeking nearly $1 million in compensation, damages and court fees. And they still haven't received the chafing dish and fondue set Jagger and Richards promised them at the wedding.
