The estate of Tupac Shakur is being sued in federal court for sampling a copyrighted speech by Dr. Khallid Abdul Muhammad in the late rapper's 1996 recording "White Man'z World" without permission.
The lawsuit, filed by Muhammad's estate, names several defendants, including Shakur's estate, Suge Knight, Interscope Records, Death Row Records, Universal's publishing arm, and producer Darryl "Big D" Harper.
The complaint claims that Shakur's team used a seven-line excerpt from a lecture Muhammad delivered at the "Black Holocaust Nationhood Conference" in 1993.
The speech features a direct call for support of political prisoners.
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"White Man'z World," included in Shakur's posthumous album The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory, was released on November 5, 1996, mere weeks after Shakur was shot and killed in Las Vegas at the age of 25. The estate argues that Muhammad's voice in the song provided emotional depth and political urgency, asserting that the sample remains in commercial use today.
$5 Million Lawsuit Demands
According to the estate's legal representation, Malik Z. Shabazz, Tupac's team never sought a license for the use of Muhammad's speech or provided any credit. The suit seeks in excess of $5 million in damages, as well as a permanent injunction prohibiting future exploitation of Muhummad's voice.
The use of the sample, which can be heard on multiple streaming platforms and radio stations, is also said to aggravate the violation.
The inclusion of Muhammad on the song cemented Shakur's place as a voice for Black power and resistance against oppression, Shabazz explained.
Dr. Khallid Muhammad, who passed away from a brain aneurysm in 2001 at the age of 53, was known for his Black nationalist views and served as chairman of the New Black Panther Party.
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