The long-running legal saga against famous rapper, record owner, and husband to Queen Bey, Jay Z, finally came to an end Wednesday after a United States district judge ruled against claims made by the family of deceased Egyptian composer Baligh Hamdi.
Osama Fahmy, the composer's nephew, filed the suit in 2007 claiming that the rapper had knowingly used flute samples from the 1957 song "Khosara Khosara" without permission and cited a violation of the composer's moral rights under Egyptian law. The family claimed that the "vulgar" lyrics of Jay Z's 1999 song "Big Pimpin" went against the composer's original intentions for the melody.
After reviewing both U.S. and Egyptian copyright laws, Judge Christina Snyder ruled that "Fahmy lacked standing to pursue his claim" since Egyptian law didn't apply to this case.
Both Timbaland and Jay Z had testified that they settled the issue in 2001 by paying $100,000 to EMI Music Arabia.
But let's settle this for once and for all: which version is actually the best?
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