Roxanne Shante sues Janet Jackson over failure to clear sample on album

[davida.b.]

Roxanne Shante Files Lawsuit Against Janet Jackson
By Nolan Strong
Date: 10/18/2004 6:14 pm

Legendary Hip-Hop pioneer Roxanne Shante has filed a lawsuit against Janet Jackson, after the singer used a clip of Shante’s voice and failed to pay.

The song “Like You Don't Love Me,” #13 on Janet’s album Damita Jo, contains a sampled clip of Shante’s voice saying “so fresh,” familiar words to those who listen to the genre of music.

“I figured maybe it was a sheer oversight that they didn’t pay the invoice for using my voice on the record,” Shante told AllHipHop.com. “Maybe she over looked it with the breast popping out (the infamous 2004 Superbowl incident), she just got caught up in the mix. I fell back, like when they get around to it, they get around to it.”

Damita Jo debuted at #2 on the Billboard Top 200 Pop Charts, moving an impressive 381,000 copies and taking second place to Usher’s blockbuster, Confessions.

Shante said she only contemplated the lawsuit after a representative for Jackson called her and said it wasn’t her voice that was sampled.

“That really infuriated me," Shante continued. "Any true Hip-Hop head knows it’s me. The sample comes from [the song] ‘Def Fresh Crew,’ a song that I did with Biz Markie on the Pop Art label.”

Shante, who has owned the masters to her own recordings for over nine years, said this is not the first time she has dealt with the sample clearance issue.

The words have been used in countless Hip-Hop songs and have appeared on popular break beat vinyl compilations.

Most people assume the words come from Biz Markie’s “Nobody Beats the Biz,” which also sampled the words from the original record.

“It usually doesn’t go this far, they rectify it. She could pay me with she what would buy her bag, it’s the principle.”

Tangles over samples are as close as Shante is coming to the Hip-Hop industry these days. She has a thriving psychology practice in Manhattan, New York and is busy raising her 18-year-old son.

“Life after Hip-Hop for me has been better than it’s ever been. I am not after the money," Shante clarified. "But how can you come at me and say that’s not my voice? The sheer humiliation and aggravation has made it go this far.”