Jay Z & Timbaland Will Testify At “Big Pimpin’” Copyright Trial In October

In case you're not up to speed, here's the "Big Pimpin'" case in a nutshell: in 1999, Timbaland sampled a Middle Eastern song called "Khosara Khosara" by a composer named Baligh Hamdy, thinking that the song was in the public domain. That track eventually became "Big Pimpin'" by Jay Z ft. UGK, and when it was released EMI claimed rights to the sample. Timbaland paid them $100,000 and called it a day, until Hamdy's nephew Osama Ahmed Fahmy filed a lawsuit in California federal court against Jay Z, Timbaland, EMI, Universal Music, Paramount Pictures, MTV, and practically anyone else who's ever used "Big Pimpin'." (Even Linkin Park was named in the lawsuit off of their collaborative mashup EP with Hov in 2004. You forgot about that one didn't you.)

Fast forward to the present day, and the trial is finally going to go to court on October 13. According to Billboard, Fahmy's lawyers are planning on calling a slew of experts to the stand, including musicologist Judith Finell who testified during the "Blurred Lines" case on behalf of the Gaye family and a marketing expert who has conducted a survey of Jay Z concert-goers in order to determine if fans buying tickets were expecting to see "Big Pimpin'" live. The defendants, of course, call all of this "patently absurd." But regardless, Jay Z and Timbaland will be testifying at the trial. Revisit the most recent time Jay Z had to settle a sample usage in court.