Snoop “Slapp’d” With Lawsuit
Rapper Snoop Dogg (real name Calvin Broadus) was slapped with a
lawsuit Tuesday for allegedly using an answering machine message by
an unnamed man in his song “Pimp Slapp’d” from 2002’s Paid tha
Cost to Be da Boss.
A man identified only as “John Doe” claims that he left a
one-minute private message on Snoop’s answering machine in October
2002, voicing his support of Snoop in his feud with his former
label boss Marion “Suge” Knight, of Tha Row (formerly Death Row
Records).
Snoop tacked the message, which identified the caller by his
known nickname “Jim Bob,” onto the end of “Pimp Slapp’d.” Doe
claims that when he confronted Snoop about the song the rapper told
him that he had to use the message because “it was so real.”
Doe is suing Snoop for common law appropriation of voice and
intentional infliction of emotional distress. Priority Records and
Doggy Style Records, which released the album in November 2002, are
also named as defendants. He is seeking injunctive relief requiring
that his message be taken off the albums and singles currently on
sale and on any future pressings of the song.
According to the suit, which was filed in Los Angeles Superior
Court, the plaintiff is remaining anonymous because he fears for
his safety. “Plaintiff now fears for his life and that of his
elderly mother,” the suit reads, “because it appears that he, as a
Compton resident (where a rival of Broadus, Suge Knight, apparently
has a lot of ‘pull’ and is feared), is supporting Broadus in the
turf war. Mr. Knight, a burly, convicted felon, is rumored to be
involved with gangs, to threaten, assault, and hurt people.”