Tracy Chapman Sues Nicki Minaj
Who could’ve ever seen this coming? A couple of months ago, Nicki Minaj publicly begged Tracy Chapman to clear a sample so that she could include the song “Sorry” on her album Queen. Chapman refused, but the song found its way to the internet anyway. And now TMZ reports that Chapman is suing Minaj.
Back in August, less than two weeks before she was slated to release Queen, Nicki Minaj tweeted that she “had no clue” that her song sampled Tracy Chapman and asking Chapman to clear the sample. (She has since deleted those tweets.)
When the album came out, the song in question was not on it. But two days after the album’s release, the New York radio DJ Funkmaster Flex played her Nas collaboration “Sorry.” The New York radio show The Breakfast Club also played the song, which of course appeared on the internet soon after. When the song made its way out, Minaj posted a since-deleted tweet that said simply, “Sis said no ♀️.”
“Sorry” features a heavy interpolation of “Baby Can I Hold You,” a song from Chapman’s sextuple-platinum self-titled 1988 debut album. According to TMZ, Chapman is suing for monetary damages and to block Minaj from releasing the song again.