Kendrick Lamar Hit With Lawsuit Over 'DAMN.' Cut "LOYALTY."
With the Plaintiff seeking all profits from the song.
Kendrick Lamar is facing a copyright infringement lawsuit over his DAMN. single “LOYALTY.” featuring Rihanna.
According to reports, Lamar, producer Terrace Martin, To Pimp a Butterfly contributing artist Josef Leimberg and Top Dawg Entertainment have all been named as defendants in the lawsuit filed by Terrace Hayes at a California federal court on August 21. The complaint alleges that the track “copied the entire composition, including title, melody, harmony and rhythm” from Hayes’ original work, and that Martin took that work and “slowed it down through a synthesizer and combined it with another sample to disguise the copying” to create Lamar’s “LOYALTY.”
Hayes states that he wrote an original song also entitled “Loyalty” and recorded it with Leimberg in 2011, and the project was stored in Leimberg’s computer. He continues to allege that Martin got a hold of the original 2011 recording and a remix created in 2016 from Leimberg’s computer.
Hayes is now seeking all profits from Lamar’s “LOYALTY.” as well as the equivalent of “all losses of Plaintiff” from the infringement, “any other monetary advantage gained by the Defendants through their infringement, the exact sum to be proven at the time of trial” and legal fees.
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