Drake can't stop winning. The rapper just won big in his "Pound Cake/Paris Morton Music 2" lawsuit, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
On the song, which was featured on 2013's Nothing Was The Same, Drake samples a 1982 spoken-word track entitled “Jimmy Smith Rap." On the record, jazz musician Jimmy Smith speaks about how the genre of jazz is going to live forever, while other genres will eventually fade away. We should also note that Smith wasn't a fan of hip hop.
"Jazz is the only real music that's gonna last," Smith says on his original song. "All that other bulls**t is here today and gone tomorrow. But jazz was, is and always will be." On "Pound Cake/Paris Morton Music 2," Drake uses a portion of these lyrics. "Only real music's gonna last," Drake's track samples. "All that other bulls**t is here today and gone tomorrow."
So, the Estate of James Oscar Smith sued Drake for copyright infringement. However, the judge presiding over the case, William H. Pauley III, sided with the rapper when his team argued that his sampling of the track was fair use. "This is precisely the type of use that 'adds something new, with a further purpose or different character, altering the first [work] with new expression, meaning or message,'" Judge Pauley wrote in his decision.
He continues: "Far from being extraneous to 'Pound Cake’s' statement on the importance of 'real' music, Defendants’ use of the lines describing the recording of Off the Top serve to drive the point home. The full extent of the commentary is, in this Court’s view, that many musicians make records in similar ways (e.g. with the help of A&R experts or the stimulating effects of champagne), but that only 'real' music – regardless of creative process or genre – will stand the test of time."
You can read the court documents here.
Original article by Isha Thorpe at iHeartRadio