Late legendary singer Barry White's estate has filed a lawsuit against Future, Metro Boomin, and Kendrick Lamar’s song Like That, as well as the 1980s rap duo Rodney-O & Joe Cooley, who are both given credits on the track.
White's widow, Glodean B. White, and Jack W. Perry are championing the case, All Hip Hop reported this week.
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According to HipHopdx, Rodney-O & Joe Cooley's 1986 song Everlasting Bass was interpolated on Like That. However, the lawsuit alleges that Everlasting Bass unlawfully bites off of Barry White’s 1973 song I’m Gonna Love You Just a Little More Baby, and therefore, Like That does the same.
Barry White's estate blames the internet for filing a case now, despite the song having come out in the 1980s
Future, Metro Boomin, and Kendrick Lamar have yet to be named as defendants in Barry White's case, given the indemnity they fall under by Rodney-O and Joe Cooley. This renders all three, as well as their associated record labels, safe from immediate legal action.
As such, Rodney-O and Joe Cooley have been dubbed the primary codefendants, and presumably their record labels. Given the indemnity, the duo have already signed on to take responsibility on the trio's behalf in any such cases.
However, All Hip Hop reports that in case this insurance proves lacking, the plaintiffs can seize the opportunity for future claims.
The outlet also reports that the Barry White Family Trust is seeking over $1 million in restitution, namely, for unauthorized reproductions, digital downloads, streaming revenues, and other such forms of infringement.
While the song did come out in the 1980s, the Barry White estate claims they were unaware of it until now, HipHopDX reported.
"Since the Defendants’ song, Everlasting Bass, was released prior to the internet and was not widely distributed, the Barry White Trust was unaware of the song when it was first released.”
Metro Boomin says the feud between Kendrick Lamar and Drake is "for the game"
Like That is perhaps most notorious for having kicked off the public spat between Kendrick Lamar and rapper Drake, serving as the predecessor for the former's diss track Not Like Us.
When probed about his role in the feud during the Forbes Under 30 summit in September 2024, music producer Metro Boomin said there's a "lot of ego involved."
"I feel like the competition is great for the game. Hip-hop has always been a competitive genre. Even if just keeping it on music it’s not serious how everybody tries to make it. Also with hip-hop, there’s a lot of ego involved. You’re supposed to feel like you’re the best.”
He continued, bringing in Jay-Z and Nas' feud too.
"When two of the top dogs in the game and you both feel like you’re the best, it’s like, ‘OK, now we gotta have a showdown.’ We saw it with Jay-Z and Nas before. I feel like more today it’s more stan culture makes it kind of weird. Back in the day, Jay-Z and Nas went at it, I was a fan of both of them. Most people were. It was like, ‘OK, it’s OK.’ It’s not like, ‘I had this side. I hate this side.’ The internet makes it a little too wild now.”
The massive hit track Like That debuted at No. 1 back in April and has already spent almost 27 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
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