One of the most complicated music copyright lawsuits you'll read about this year just got a possibly big update. For those unaware, Barry White's estate filed a lawsuit claiming that the sample in Kendrick Lamar, Future, and Metro Boomin's hit song "Like That" unlawfully uses the bassline from White's 1973 cut, "I’m Gonna Love You Just A Little More, Babe." Let's quickly break it down: "Like That" samples Rodney-O and Joe Cooley's 1988 record "Everlasting Bass," which itself uses the aforementioned bassline from the Texas-born singer. You may be wondering why the WE DON'T TRUST YOU trio is a part of this if it relates to this other track.
That's because Kendrick Lamar, Future, and Metro Boomin aren't actually named as codefendants in this copyright lawsuit, one of many right now in the music industry. The plaintiffs representing Barry White believe that the trio is indemnified (protected from legal action) by Rodney-O and Joe Cooley. However, plaintiffs still left the door open for a direct suit if the indemnification proves insufficient in their eyes. As such, this suit is mainly against Rodney and Joe. Speaking of which, the latter actually responded to this suit in a since-deleted Facebook post, per AllHipHop.
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Rodney-O Speaks On The Success Of "Like That"
"God is telling me to Man up leave Rodney-O alone and just stay away," Joe Cooley expressed, claiming he has receipts to back him up. "He’s only adding more damages by falsely illegally using my name and production I got paperwork to prove it." The duo that Kendrick Lamar, Future, and Metro Boomin sampled had signed to Egyptian Lover's Egyptian Empire label by the time they released "Everlasting Bass." AllHipHop reportedly confirmed with Egyptian Lover that Rodney-O owns or owned the track's masters and publishing.
"It’s amazing,” Rodney-O told AllHipHop of the success of "Like That" back in April following a Red Rocks performance with DJ Quik. “For something I made when I was 16, 17 years old to come back and be bigger than it was... Hey, I’m all in! Keep it moving. Y’all keep listening!" We'll see what else comes of this lawsuit, and whether or not Kendrick Lamar, Future, Metro Boomin, and their teams and labels will have to respond to it in court.
