Why Jay Z wants earnings, criminal history hidden

Jay Z may have a high net worth, but he reportedly wants his exact earnings to remain a secret during his upcoming trial. Beyoncé’s husband is in court over allegations he illegally sampled another artist for his hit ‘Big Pimpin.’ Sources claimed this week that Jay Z has asked the judge to hide the rapper’s […]

Jay Z may have a high net worth, but he reportedly wants his exact earnings to remain a secret during his upcoming trial. Beyoncé’s husband is in court over allegations he illegally sampled another artist for his hit ‘Big Pimpin.’
Sources claimed this week that Jay Z has asked the judge to hide the rapper’s wealth and his criminal history from the jury. Jay believes neither of these are relevant to the case. But the judge will ultimately decide whether this information will remain hidden.
An Egyptian man named Osama Ahmed Fahmy has sued Jay Z and producer Timbaland for their use of a flute verse from the song ‘Khosara, Khosara.’ ‘Khosara, Khosara’ which appeared in a 1960 Egyptian film, was written by Fahmy’s uncle, Baligh Hamdy.
Fahmy originally claimed that ‘Big Pimpin’ violated his “moral rights” because ‘Khosara, Khosara’ was “mutilated” without his permission. The Egyptian claims his uncle didn’t know his song would be modified into a completely different song. But now Fahmy’s lawyers claim Timbaland and Jay Z got the licence to use ‘Khosara, Khosara’ illegally.
Fahmy licensed the track via Sout el Phan, which in turn licensed the song to EMI Arabia. Timbaland got the license for ‘Khosara, Khosara’ through EMI, paying a N19.9 million ($100,000) fee. But now Fahmy claims EMI Arabia had no right to give Timbaland the licence in the first place.
“Sout el Phan said, ‘EMI Arabia, you can use it, but you can’t go out and give away rights to someone else,” Hamdy’s lawyer previously said in court. ‘“I don’t have authority to do that, and the copyright owner hasn’t given me rights to do that.”