Music Entertainment and Culture

Tracy Chapman suing Nicki Minaj for copyright infringement

By Associated Press

This combination photo shows Nicki Minaj (let) at the Harper’s BAZAAR Icons by Carine Roitfeld party in New York on Sept. 8, 2017, and Tracy Chapman at a benefit event on behalf of the American Foundation for AIDS Research in New York on Jan. 31, 2007. | AP

LOS ANGELES — Rapper Nicki Minaj is being sued for sampling a Tracy Chapman song without permission.

Chapman filed a copyright infringement lawsuit Monday in a Los Angeles federal court. The Grammy-winning singer says Minaj’s unreleased track “Sorry” incorporates the lyrics and vocal melody from her 1988 single “Baby Can I Hold You.”

The lawsuit states the “Fast Car” singer repeatedly denied multiple requests to sample her song for Minaj’s fourth album “Queen.”

Minaj’s representatives did not respond to emails seeking comment.

“Sorry” was not included on Minaj’s album but Chapman alleges the rapper gave it to a popular New York disc jockey who played the song on the radio and posted it to his social media accounts in August.

Chapman is suing for unspecified damages and wants to prevent Minaj from releasing “Sorry” commercially.

Next Up In Entertainment

Netflix looks to curb password sharing, considers ads

Dear Abby: Dinner date urges me not to regain the weight I lost

Horoscope for Wednesday, April 20, 2022

Johnny Depp denies hitting Amber Heard: ‘Nothing of the kind ever happened’

Drawing fun out of a hat

Ari Emanuel talks about pizza, brotherly fisticuffs and ice baths during a visit to Chicago

Latest Stories

The Latest

Chicago Fire

Is Brian Gutierrez the answer to the Fire's attacking woes?

Gutierrez has not started the past two games, even though the offense has struggled.

By Brian Sandalow

Screenshot 2024-04-19 at 8.41.52 PM.png

Chicago Sky and WNBA

Sky operating chairman, co-owner Nadia Rawlinson confident in team's direction: "This is our era"

Rawlinson hopes to make an announcement regarding the team’s plans for an individual practice facility before the 2024 season begins.

By Annie Costabile

Indiana State center Robbie Avila

High School Basketball

College basketball transfer portal chock full of area players

Once again there are dozens of players with local ties moving on from their previous college stop in search of a better or different opportunity.

By Joe Henricksen

Burnham Prairie - Landscape Wetland - Jul19 3.JPG

Editorials

Illinois wetlands deserve protection. Lawmakers should make that happen, while there is still time.

State lawmakers can pass legislation that would restore the safeguards the U.S. Supreme Court removed last year on wetlands, which play a key role in helping to mitigate the impact of climate change and are critical habitats for birds, insects, mammals and amphibians.

By CST Editorial Board

TT Still 6.png

Columnists

Watch and learn: Chicago Palestine Film Festival aims to entertain, educate

Not all filmmakers participating in the 15-day event are of Palestinian descent, but their art reclaims and champions narratives that have been defiled by those who have a Pavlovian tendency to think terrorists — not innocent civilians — when they visualize Palestinian men, women and children.

By Rummana Hussain