T-Pain Sued For Stealing “I’m N Luv (Wit A Stripper)” From TV’s Huggy Bear
So here’s how the great “I’m N Luv (Wit A Stripper)” heist of 2005 went down. Three producers–Rodney King (no, not him), Jeff Byrd, and James Reese–wrote a song named “Makin’ Luv 2 A Player” in 1997, which was then recorded by Antonio Fargas, a.k.a. TV’s “Huggy Bear.” A year later, King and Fargas met with Steve Rifkind, then-owner of Loud Records, who was interested in having the Wu-Tang Clan or Fat Joe redo the track. The parties couldn’t come to a mutual agreement, but Rifkind allegedly kept a copy of the song. Eventually, according to the producers, T-Pain was given a copy of the song by Akon; his label Konvict Music, which signed T-Pain, was connected to Rifkind’s SRC Records. Because this Antonio Fargas track is just that damn good.
“The musical hook is nearly identical,” attorney Gregory Bodell told AllHipHop.com. “It’s a little slower in my clients’ song, but it was of course recorded 8 years earlier. When I listened to it, I said, ‘That’s the same hook.’
“Given how similar the hook is musically, and the lyrics aren’t that different, from ‘Makin’ love to a playa’ to “I’m in Luv Wit a Stripper,’ it’s hard to believe that Rifkind, who had my clients’ original song, didn’t give the song to T-Pain,” Bodell claimed. “It is especially likely that this happened since originally, back in ’98 when he met with Mr. King, he and his A&R staff were trying to determine which of his artists would best perform the song. It seems they found T-Pain in 2005.”
The plaintiffs have requested that the court determine an amount of punitive and exemplary damages that is “sufficient to punish [the defendants] and to deter similar conduct in the future,” according to the lawsuit.
More than 100 parties are listed in the lawsuit, which helps explain why the writers waited until well after the song reached its maximum cultural saturation to file suit. If they had reacted immediately, there might not have been any ringtone money to go for!
T-Pain, Steve Rifkind Accused Of Stealing ‘Stripper’ [AllHipHop]
