Jay Z Slapped With Lawsuit Over ‘Run This Town’ Song For ONE WORD

Jay Z doesn’t exactly need another headache after finally managing to fend off those persistent rumours that his marriage to Beyonce is on the verge of divorce, but that’s exactly what he is facing as the rapper has reportedly been hit with a lawsuit over his hit song ‘Run This Town’ - for allegedly sampling just one word.
The 44-year-old hip-hop legend released the track, which features Kanye West and Rihanna, in 2009 and peaked at number one on the UK charts but it’s only now that he has received a lawsuit from record label TufAmerica who allege that he has sampled a part of the 1969 song ‘Hook and Sling’ recorded by Eddie Bo.

According to The Independent, Jay Z is accused of using an unlicensed part of the track, specifically for using the single syllable “oh,” but the rapper isn’t taking the claims lightly, hitting back at the lawsuit through his attorney who said: “It is black letter law that words and short phrases are simply not protectable under the Copyright Act.
“Thus, Plaintiff cannot state a claim based on the alleged infringement of a generic lyric such as, ‘oh,’ or the sound recording thereof, and Plaintiffs claims should be dismissed as a matter of law. The alleged copying here of a sound lasting a fraction of a second in Plaintiffs Works is de minimis and thus not actionable,” the statement added.

Jay Z may have a legal battle on his hands after being sued over his track 'Run This Town' (AKM-GSI)

The publication reveals that ‘Hook and Sling’ appears to have inspired a number of popular hip-hop tracks including Justin Timberlake’s SexyBack, LL Cool J’s Mama Said Knock You Out and Kanye’s Good Friday. Kanye has also been hit with a lawsuit from TufAmerica in the past for allegedly sampling the song. Jay Z and his legal team also brought up another lawsuit which TufAmerica lost last year when they claimed that The Beastie Boys’ albums Licensed To Ill and Paul’s Boutique both contained unauthorised samples of the Trouble Funk song phrase: "Now I Want Y’all To Break This Down.”
It’s not been a good month for Run This Town, which was pulled from featuring on CBS’ Thursday Night Football last week to reportedly avoid linking Rihanna and her domestic violence history to the controversy surrounding NFL player Ray Rice and his attack on wife Janay.
Jay Z is now waiting to hear if a judge will dismiss the TufAmerica lawsuit.