Roommates, if you remember, back in 2018, we reported that Tracy Chapman was suing Nicki Minaj for copyright infringement because Nicki sampled Tracy’s song without her permission. The song Tracy is referring to is Nicki’s “Sorry,” which features Nas. “Sorry” was supposed to be on her album “Queen,” she was unable to clear the sample from Tracy’s song, “Baby Can I Hold You,” so it was pulled. The song was originally leaked by Funkmaster Flex in the Summer of 2018 but was later removed from his website.
The legal matter has finally ended with a nearly half-million-dollar settlement from Nicki. Back In September 2020, Nicki received a small victory when Judge Virginia A. Phillips sided with her reasoning that “Sorry” was protected under fair use.
This past week Tracy and her team finally decided to accept an offer from Nicki that allowed the legal proceedings to end. Tracy will be receiving the sum of $450,000 to be paid by Nicki, including all of the additional costs and attorney fees. A source close to Nicki advised Tracy is being paid by insurance, and the money is not coming directly out of Nicki’s pockets. The source continued,” Tracy asked for a lot more money in the lawsuit, but since the case was weak in some areas, she and her team settled for a lesser amount.”
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The source also advises that the other part of the suit was Tracy saying Nicki shouldn’t have recorded “Sorry” without her permission. Judge Phillips ruled that her statement was ridiculous and that Nicki had the right to record first and receive permission after the recording process was complete, which Nicki did.
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