Nicki Minaj has paid Tracy Champan $450,000 for swiping her track "Baby Can I Hold You" and making it into her Nas-featured track "Sorry."
This was anything but a straight forward illegal sampling case. Nicki had recorded "Sorry" knowing that Chapman was on the "do not sample list," a collection of artists who never license out their work. But she thought her team could still convince the folk singer. When they weren't able to, Nicki pulled the song from her album Queen -- delaying its release.
Funk Flex then leaked the track after getting it from Nicki, and that's where Minaj's problem was. A judge has ruled that it was "fair use" when Nicki experimented with Chapman's track in the studio. However, once the track got to the public -- even through a leak -- Nicki had infringed Chapman's copyright.
Minaj and Chapman agreed on the sum of $450,000, avoiding additional adjudication.
Nicki is still being sued for $200 million for stealing her track "Rich Sex" from Brinx Billions.