The Notorious B.I.G. Sued By R&B Singer Over Sample Clearance

One of the Notorious B.I.G.’s classic cuts has an R&B singer looking for a payday. Lee Hutson, 68, the former lead singer of The Impressions, is suing the estate of the late rapper over the alleged illegal use of a sample of one of his songs.

According to the New York Post, Hutson claims that “Can’t Say Enough About Mom” was illegally sampled in “The What” from the late Brooklyn rapper’s debut album, Ready To Die. The tune was never a proper single, but features Method Man and got major burn in Hip-Hop circles.

According to the lawsuit, although the song was released in 1994, Hutson didn’t notice it was sampled by Biggie until two years ago, when he sent a cease and desist letter to Bad Boy Entertainment.

Interestingly, Bad Boy filed a lawsuit a couple of days before Hutson’s in federal court, citing that the “statute of limitations” was up on any claims.

“The What” was produced by Easy Mo Bee. However, if you check the album credits, there is no mention of a sample. Sounds like someone in the Bad Boy/Arista sample clearance department blew it.

Listen to “The What” below. Also, listen to Leroy Hutson’s “Can’t Say Enough About Mom” on the next page, it’s pretty fresh (you can hear the tiny portion Mo Bee flipped at the 5:50 mark).