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Jay Z didn’t pass the bar but he knows a little bit. Which is why he’s representing himself at the now sensationalized “Big Pimpin” lawsuit that has been eight years in the making.

However, the trial’s drawn out chain of events or the successful millionaire rapper born Shawn Carter playing esquire isn’t the case’s biggest story at the moment. One would think Jay Z, 45, would want the “Big Pimpin” lawsuit put behind him but according to new court documents filed this past Friday, he’s asking a judge to delay the proceedings, which were supposed to begin Monday, October 13.

The reason being the plaintiff, Osama Ahmed Fahmy—the nephew of Baligh Hamdi, whose composition “Khosara, Khosara” was the song whose rights were infringed on—is claiming he can’t make the trial in person and is asking that his six-year-old deposition be used in his absence.

Jay Z and his team recognize the move as ploy and “eleventh-hour gambit” for Fahmy to avoid being cross-examined because they reportedly have a licensing agreement with an Egyptian outfit that allowed them to legally us Hamdi’s work.

Fahmy’s stall could also prove more financial damage for Jay Z and producer Timbaland should they lose the case. At the beginning of September 2015, Jay Z asked the courts to seal his revenue receipts from evidence, especially since “Big Pimpin,” which was released in 1998, is one of his biggest hits to date and all the years of royalties–including the dawn of his lucrative Live Nation deal–could prove to be excruciating damage to his wallet.

Jay Z plans to use the “Big Pimpin” lawsuit delay to depose the plaintiff and/or prevent the weathered deposition from being used against him.

In a doctor’s note from Egypt, Hamdi is claiming he suffers from a heart condition that makes him “unstable” for lengthy travel on an airplane. The note was dated September 13, 2015, three days before the September 16, 2015 pretrial conference.

[The Hollywood Reporter]

Photo: WENN