10 Songs That Led To Massive Lawsuits

10. My Humps By Black Eyed Peas

A childish song about a woman using her body to get what she wants, My Humps was slammed by music critics for being immature. However, what had critics tutting packed out dancefloors. The third single from the Black Eyed Peas' fourth studio album Money Business, it was also one of their most successful songs.

The video landed them an MTV award and the song itself created an unexpected cultural domino effect. Blades of Glory, an absurd 2007 sports comedy about figure skating, featured a scene in which Will Ferrell's character Chad Michael Michaels demanded that he only skate to that song. His dialogue would later be sampled by Kanye West and Jay-Z for their 2011 song N*ggas in Paris.

My Humps actually sampled a 1983 song called I Need A Freak by a band called Sexual Harassment. The writer of that song, a DJ named Orrin Lynn Tolliver Jr, recorded the song at James McCant's studio and McCant later registered the song with BMI. The pair appeared to have agreed that Tolliver would get 75% of the song's royalties but then McCant denied this agreement existed and began selling the track for use. Despite Tolliver sending McCant a cease and desist letter, his former friend continued to make the track available for sampling to the likes of BEP.

With My Humps selling over two million copies, it was inevitable that this dispute would end up in court. Once there, McCant proceeded to contradict himself with a number of different stories. He initially denied issuing a licence before claiming that he co-wrote and owned I Need A Freak. Then, he tried to use a musicology expert's report to show that My Humps didn't use a sample at all. This didn't work. Tolliver was awarded $1.2 million in damages.