Rappers Ludacris, real name Chris Bridges, and Kanye West, real name Kanye West, have been accused of stealing another act's music at a court case in the New York District Court in Manhattan. New Jersey group IOF accuse the two rappers of lifting beats and lyrics from one of their 2001 tracks for use on Ludacris' 2003 hit 'Stand Up', which West produced and co-wrote.
Lawyers for IOF yesterday began their case by playing the two records. A key issue is the line "like that", that appears more than 80 times in both songs - although in the IOS track the full line is "straight like that" while Ludacris and West use the line "just like that".
Lawyers for the two rappers have criticised the case, claiming the words and beats their clients are accused of "stealing" are too generic to be owned by IOF. Lawyer Christine Lepera told the court: "There are scores of songs out there with the words 'like that' with that type of rhythm. None of you can monopolise certain expressions". She then clapped her hands to demonstrate the beat in the two tracks and said: "Do you think your three-year-old can do that?", trying to prove that neither recording had a particularly original rhythm.
But lawyers for IOF said that while their clients' track had not been hugely successful, Ludacris had "had access to the song on numerous occasions", adding "IOF put a lot of time and effort into doing this song and then it was taken away from them".
The trial is expected to last for about a week, with both Ludacris and West quite likely to testify.