Jay-Z, Roc-A-Fella Records, Sony Music, and Timbaland were all accused of wrong-doing in the legal papers filed by Ernie Hines’ attorney.
According to the Blast, and now TMZ, an 81-year-old singer is suing a consortium of entities and artists led by Jay-Z, upon learning that his song saw unlawfully sampled, several years in the past. Ernie Hiles is the 81-year claimant, is pointing to “Help Me Put Out the Flame (In My Heart),” a 7″ single that was pressed in 1970 while he occupied a residency over at Stax Records.With the rhythm section of Hines’ song applied to both, Jay-Z’s “Paper Chase” (Vol. 2… Hard Knock Life), and Ginuwine’s “Toe 2 Toe” (100% Ginuwine), the 81-year old’ (under the counsel of his attorney) is seeking a remuneration of $2,000,000 for copyright infringement.
Hines’ lawyer boldly claims that none of the accused (Jay-Z, Timbaland, Roc-A-Fella Records, Def Jam Recordings, Universal Music Group, or Sony Music) ever reached out to his client at any point in time, much less during the period of ’98-2001 when those songs were in rotation. His lawyer, Christopher Brown spoke of the singer’s senility and lack of knowledge/interest in modern hip-hop as the reason for the lapse in time, but not the oversight (songs he never knew existed. “Toe 2 Toe” and it’s 2-million sales mark appear to be the basis for their “asking price.”
