Barry White’s Estate Sues Creators Of Song Sampled By Metro Boomin, Future, Kendrick Lamar

The estate has filed paperwork alleging that a 1986 hip-hop song, "Everlasting Bass" recorded and performed by West Coast duo, Rodney-O & Joe Cooley lifted the sample illegally.

A sample used almost 40 years ago in a song that was recently sampled by Metro Boomin in the single “Like That” featuring Future and Kendrick Kamar–which lit the fire for the Drake/Lamar battle that took place this year–has been flagged by the estate of Barry White in a recent copyright infringement lawsuit.

According to Billboard, White’s estate has filed paperwork alleging that a 1986 hip-hop song, “Everlasting Bass,” recorded and performed by West Coast duo Rodney-O & Joe Cooley, infringed on White’s 1973 record, “I’m Gonna Love You Just a Little More Baby.” It’s safe to assume that the suit came on the heels of the “Like That” composition that sampled the “Everlasting Bass” track used for the record that gained popularity after Lamar dissed fellow rappers J. Cole and Drake on the song.

Attorneys for the White estate admitted that they waited 40 years to file the lawsuit because the sampled work was “released prior to the internet and was not widely distributed,” which amounts to leaving the estate “unaware of the song when it was first released.”

Although the three artists on the “Like That” song aren’t mentioned in the lawsuit, the other writers listed in the credits are Rodney-O & Joe Cooley.

The lawsuit states that “Like That” also infringes White’s copyrights: “‘Like That’ copies substantial elements of ‘I’m Gonna Love You Just A Little More, Babe’ … including but not limited to the iconic, immediately recognizable bass line.”

According to the estate, Rodney-O and Joe Cooley are the defendants because the duo said they agreed to defend the recording artists against such accusations when the sample was cleared.

“I’m Gonna Love You Just a Little More Baby” is one of White’s more popular songs and has been sampled many times over the years. It peaked at No. 3 on the Hot 100 in June 1973 and stayed on the chart for 18 weeks.