Nicki Minaj is ready to fight the lawsuit brought by singer Tracy Chapman and is refusing to settle.
According to court documents obtained by The Blast, Minaj and Chapman recently attended a court-ordered mediation.
The docs note on October 2 the parties tried to privately hash out their issues. However, “the mediation was unsuccessful, and no settlement was reached. Settlement in not imminent.”
The case will now move forward against Minaj.
The rapper Minaj admitted her team made several requests to Chapman to use her music and says those requests were denied. She also says she did record the song before getting permission.
In the court docs, Minaj says she did want to put “Sorry” on her album “Queen” but left it off due to not having clearance.
The song was eventually leaked to Funkmaster Flex, who posted it on social media, and then it went viral soon after. Minaj argues the use of Chapman’s sample in her song was fair use and even says Chapman doesn’t own the copyright to the sampled track.Minaj is demanding the entire lawsuit be thrown out.
Minaj is also dealing with a separate legal battle with her ex-stylist.
Maher Jridi sued Minaj first, accusing her of refusing to return expensive clothes he had borrowed from a third party.
The stylist says he worked with Minaj during 2017 and claims to have rented a bunch of outfits from a wardrobe company for her. He claims to have spent thousands on the rental clothes but never was reimbursed.
In his suit, he explained since he never returned the clothing, the company sued him and won a $74k judgment. The stylist accused Minaj of refusing to pay the bill and causing him emotional damage.
Minaj counter-sued him claiming she overpaid him to the tune of $12,000 and said he promised to repay but never did. She denied his claims of refusing to return clothes and demanded his suit be dismissed.
The case is ongoing.
