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Sampling Suit Is Filed over Fergie Hit

By John Pacenti
February 28, 2008
West Palm Beach, FL, resident Derrick Rahming dreamed of making it big with the hip-hop band Afro Rican and even formed a production company in the mid-1990s. These days millions have heard Rahming's group, even if they don't know it. A sample of his song 'Give It All You Got' jump-starts mega-star Fergie's hit 'Fergalicious' from her album The Duchess. Rahming recently filed a copyright-infringement suit, alleging he wrote the intro to the Billboard pop-chart topper in the late 1980s. He registered it with the U.S. Copyright Office and recorded it in its most popular form in 1995.

'This was his 15 minutes of fame and Fergie has stolen it,' says Rahming's attorney, Richard Wolfe of Wolfe & Goldstein in Miami. The suit asks U.S. District Judge Patricia A. Seitz to issue a temporary injunction, restraining 'defendant, her agents, employees, licensees and officers from exploiting the plaintiff's copyrights.' The complaint also seeks unspecified damages and legal fees.

The judge has the power to pull CDs off the shelves, but Wolfe hopes a settlement can be reached. Fergie has the motivation to settle because there is a wide disparity in jury awards in sampling-copyright lawsuits, he noted. 'Cases like this usually settle,' Wolfe says. When Wolfe spoke, Fergie hadn't filed a response and no hearing dates had been set.

Rahming, who still produces some music but also works as a skycap at Palm Beach International Airport, says that he wants everything that is due to him. The liner notes on The Dutchess CD credit Rahming for the 16-second frenetic intro of synthesizer, keyboard and guitar. 'They never spoke to me,' Rahming says. 'Yes they mentioned me but didn't give me any money. This was a big song. This was the biggest song on the album.' Wolfe adds: 'People bought the album for 'Fergalicious,' and the opening hook was his song.'

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