Hip hop combo Bone Thugs-N-Harmony have been sued by a Texas-based music publisher over allegations they nicked bits from a seventies song by Rasa called 'When The Day Will Come' for their track 'I Tried (So Hard)', the lead single off their 2007 album 'Strength And Loyalty'.
Songster, who own the publishing rights in the Rasa track, name Bone Thugs-N-Harmonay, producer Swizz Beatz and Akon, who guested on the track, in their lawsuit, as well as both the music companies with interests in the 2007 track, so Universal's Interscope and Sony ATV Publishing.
The legal documents also list a range of other hip hop artists who have sampled the 1978 song with permission, presumably to demonstrate that it shouldn't have been hard for Bone Thugs and their associates to locate the Texas publisher before releasing the Rasa sampling track. In fact, the publisher also alleges they alerted all interested parties that the sample was unlicensed before the Bone Thugs album was released.
None of the defendants have, as yet, commented on the litigation.