Back in 2007, a guy named Osama Ahmed Fahmy sued Jay Z and Timbaland for using a sample from his uncle Baligh Hamdi’s composition “Khosara, Khosara” for Jay’s 1999 hit, “Big Pimpin,” from his album, Vol. 3…Life and Times of S. Carter. “Khosara, Khosara” was used in the 1960 Egyptian film Fata ahlami.
After the song was released, an international branch of EMI learned the revealed info regarding the sample’s history, and Timbaland quickly paid $100,000 to keep the peace and try and gain rights to the sample. But it was too late.
Fahmy not only sued Jay and Timbo, he also sued EMI, Universal Music, and Paramount Pictures over the fact that “Big Pimpin” was used in an MTV documentary made about Jay Z. Fahmy and the rest of Hamdi’s heirs happily accepted the payout for the rights from the EMI subsidiary, but his team are pushing to acknowledge the fact that Timbaland and Jay didn’t get official consent prior to the sample’s use.
“The evidence will also show that the defendants did not obtain the consent of the author or his heirs to introduce modifications in or additions to Khosara Khosara; therefore, any license to economically exploit ‘Khosara Khosara’ in ‘Big Pimpin” would be null and void,” their lawyers write.
Now, eight years later, Timbaland, Jay, and Fahmy are finally heading to court on October 13th where both artists will reportedly testify. According to VIBE, Fahmy’s lawyers plan on bringing musicologist Judith Finell on to testify as well. Finell testified on behalf of Marvin Gaye’s family during the “Blurred Lines” trial.
