PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES
Mitchell Rose, a former boxer, is suing rapper Jay-Z for close to $90 million. Why? Because Rose claims Jay-Z stole his style of rapping. It all started back in 2001, when Rose slipped Jay a demo with all of his rhymes after a boxing match. And now the former heavyweight boxer is alleging that Jay-Z is using his style of delivery and a form of “whispering” over his tracks.
“He took the style and delivery. He is on the regular, now Lil’ Kim is using it. All I want is justice. Jay-Z knows what I’m talking about,” says Rose. “He took the demo with him and shortly after that he began using the whispering, which he now frequents, in his songs.
“I had previously trained some of my artists to use that style, but it quickly became obsolete after Jay-Z got a hold of it,” Rose claimed. “He [Jay-Z] used the whispering to enhance his music and financially benefit from it. Jay-Z disregarded the fact that it was my demo where he got the style from as he went on to use it for his own personal gains, which is wrong.”
I’m no legal expert or anything, but since when can you sue someone over a “style?” I could see if he stole a beat, or some lyrics, or something to that nature. But a style? You can’t even copywrite a damn style! GTFOH! I doubt Jay-Z even listened to that demo lol…
