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KENDRICK LAMAR SUED FOR ALLEGED COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT OF ‘LOYALTY’ Ft. RIHANNA

Posted on August 28th, 2020
by
Staff Editor


Kendrick Lamar is getting sued over his Rihanna featured track, “Loyalty” from his 2017 album DAMN. Documents were obtained by Music Business Worldwide that stated a musician named Terrance Hayes claims the rapper’s song had very similar elements from his recording, which was also titled “Loyalty.”

The lawsuit accuses producer Terrace Martin of having access to Hayes’ version of “Loyalty” with the help of Josef Leimberg. However, Leimburg isn’t credited for Lamar’s song. Martin, Leimberg and Top Dawg Entertainment are listed as defendants in the lawsuit.

Hayes says he made his song “Loyalty” with Leimberg at Ironworx Creative Recordings studio and registered it with the United States Copyright Office in 2011. He also mentions that his song was stored on Leimberg’s computer, which is how he suspects that Martin stole his work, seeing that the two have collaborated plenty of times. 

“Plaintiff believes and herein alleges that Martin had access to the Subject Track through Leimberg, who was his close music collaborator,” the documents read. “Subsequently Martin and Doe Defendants copied the entire composition, including title, melody, harmony and rhythm from the Subject Track into the Infringing Song, and slowed it down through a synthesizer and combined it with another sample to disguise the copying.”

Hayes is seeking all profits from Kendrick’s “Loyalty,” and “any other monetary advantage gained by the Defendants through their infringement.” 

View the lawsuit via Music Business Worldwide here.

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