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Drake sued for allegedly using sampled beat without permission – twice!
By Chris Cooke | Published on Friday 23 August 2019
Got time for another uncleared sample lawsuit? Of course you have. Drake nabbed the beat from a 2000 song called ‘Roll Call’ for not one but two tracks on his 2018 album ‘Scorpion’. Or at least so says ‘Roll Call’ maker Samuel Nicholas III, who performs as Sam Skully.
Nicholas claims that Drake sampled his beats on ‘Scorpion’ tracks ‘In My Feelings’ and ‘Nice For What’. Both were co-produced by Adam Pigott, aka Blaqnmild, and Nicholas says he became aware of the allegedly uncleared sampling after seeing an interview with the producer, in which he discussed using a certain beat for the two Drake tracks.
According to Law360, the lawsuit filed by Nicholas this week claims: “The sound recording called ‘that beat’ by producer defendant Adam J Pigott p/k/a Blaqnmild is in fact the sound recording ‘Roll Call (Instrumental)’ in which plaintiff Samuel Nicholas III p/k/a Sam Skully has a copyright. The sound recording called ‘that beat’ is a direct copy of the copyrighted ‘Roll Call (Instrumental)’, not a new performance or new interpretation”.
Nicholas then confirms that he was never approached by Drake or any of his people about the allegedly uncleared sample. To that end he wants damages and a cut of the profits generated by ‘In My Feelings’ and ‘Nice For What’, as well as an injunction invalidating the current copyright registrations for those two works.
Fun times. Drake et al are yet to comment on the lawsuit, which was filed with the Louisiana federal court on Wednesday.