LimeWire Music Blog

October was a mixed bag for Lil Wayne: Evidence forced him to plead guilty to weapons posession, but he also released a generally lauded mix tape and announced the debut compilation by his Young Money crew. But the month still ended on a down note for Weezy, as Halloween brought the news that he’s being sued for copyright infringement. So it looks like he’s got both criminal and civil proceedings to look forward to. As the BBC reports, Thomas Marasciullo is suing Lil Wayne and Birdman for using his voice without permission in their recordings.

Apparently, the dispute dates back to 2006, when the rappers allegedly asked Marascuillo to lay down some “Italian-styled spoken word recordings” — whatever that means. Now, Marascuillo says the duo used his lyrics on their collaborative 2006 album Like Father, Like Son, as well as Birdman’s 5 (Star) Stunna (2007). The lawsuit also extends to Weezy’s label, Cash Money Records, and outlets that have distributed the records.

The infringing material apparently includes the songs “Respect” and “Loyalty” — the latter of which Marasciullo says contains his lyrics, “The main name in this game is respect and loyalty. Family is a big thing. When we do this kind of business, everything is with respect.” Sounds like that lack of respect may indeed come back to bite Lil Wayne in the ass.