Kendrick Lamar Gets Sued for Sampling Bill Withers’ Song on “I Do This”

Clearing and obtaining samples is often a huge obstacle in creating rap, with the barriers and price tags that go along with sampling at times delaying a project or forcing a song off of one. For Kendrick Lamar though, it's a song that was released over five years ago that's got him in hot water. As TMZ reports, the company that owns the rights to the Bill Withers' 1975 song "Don't You Want to Stay" is claiming that Kendrick aped the song without permission for his own 2009 track "I Do This."

Mattie Music Group is suing Kendrick, saying that "I Do This" is a near replica of "Don't You Want to Stay," to the point it "consists of nothing more than new rap and hip hop lyrics set to the existing music of 'Don't You Want To Stay.'" The current liner notes for Overly Dedicated, the mixtape that features the "I Do This" remix, don't yet list any sample for the track, which is exactly the issue.

There was a similar case in 2012 when Lord Finesse sued Mac Miller over a sample used, and not cleared, on his 2010 mixtape K.I.D.S. The question there was can an artist sue another over music that was ultimately released for free? The two eventually settled in 2013 for an undisclosed amount.

The timing of the Withers suit is curious, since just this week, it was reported that Lil Wayne had remixed the singer's "Lean on Me" to create an ode to, well, lean.

Mattie Music is suing for damages and has asked Kendrick to stop using the Withers track. Read the full story over at TMZ, and listen to the two tracks below.

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