Kendrick Lamar sued for copying

Trouble ... Kendrick Lamar is being sued by soul legend Bill Withers over copyright infringement. Picture: Gustavo Caballero/Getty Images for Turner

Don't think it's only the up and coming that copy songs, this bring to your notice that big names also do.


From the information gathered, Kendrick Lamar is being sued for allegedly using the music from one of soul legend Bill Withers’ songs without permission.

Withers’ company Mattie Music has filed a lawsuit in which it is claimed Lamar rapped over the top of the musician’s recording Don’t You Want To Stay.

According to a complaint filed in Los Angeles federal court, Lamar added his own lyrics to a “direct and complete copy” of Withers’ music to create I Do This, resulting in copyright infringement.

Kendrick Lamar's I Do This

According to TMZ, the lawsuit states the song “consists of nothing more than new rap and hip hop lyrics set to the existing music of Don’t You Want To Stay”.


Lamar, has ignored demands to stop exploiting Withers’ music, and admitted to copying it “with a thumb to the nose, catch me if you can attitude”, the complaint said.


Interestingly, Lamar released the song twice — firstly, on the rapper’s Kendrick Lamar EP, which was released back in 2009, and then again as a remix on his 2010 album Overly Dedicated.

Legend ... Bill Withers has had a stellar career. Picture: Splash NewsSource:Supplied

Superstar ... Kendrick Lamar is the biggest name in hip hop. Picture: Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for MTVSource:Getty Images

Don’t You Want To Stay was a track from Withers’ 1975 album Making Music.
The lawsuit was filed in the same court where a jury, in 2015, awarded singer Marvin Gaye’s family $9.6 million after finding that the Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams 2013 smash hit Blurred Lines copied parts of Gaye’s 1977 song Got to Give It Up.

Lamar is currently the biggest name in hip hop, but Withers is something of a legend.

The 77-year-old is responsible for a string of massive hits, including Lean on Me,Ain’t No Sunshine, Just the Two of Us and Use Me.

More recently, he was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of fame in 2015 by fellow legend Stevie Wonder.

Bill Withers' Don't You Want To Stay

culled from news.com.au