Jay-Z and Timbaland appeared in court today as part of an ongoing trial over a copyright dispute for a sample used in the 1999 track "Big Pimpin'." The family of Baligh Hamdi, an Egyptian composer whose 1957 single "Khosara Khosara" was sampled in Jay-Z's track, are suing the rapper for violating the rights to the song. Today, as Billboard points out, Jay spoke to jurors stating very clearly, "we have the rights as you can see on the bottom of the CD." The rapper even apparently cracked a few jokes, when answering a question about the rap careers that he's helped launch, he mentioned Kanye west saying, "he's running for president."
Lawyers for Jay and Timbaland told jurors that Hamdi's family had already been paid for the use of "Khosara Khosara." Read Billboard's report here and watch the video for the song in question above.
