It didn't take too long for Jamie Foxx to fall into legal trouble after releasing his first single in years. Foxx, 2 Chainz and producer DJ Mustard are being taken to court by Nontra Records, who claims that "Party Ain't A Party" is a virtual twin of a song owned by the label.
It's complicated however. Here's the summation of events as provided by The Hollywood Reporter: The beat used during "Party Ain't A Party" is actually the exact same beat as whatever song Nontra is claiming possession of, and DJ Mustard made both. The DJ apparently made the same beat for performer J Rand while he was with the Poe Boy Music Group. J Rand made his own song and then Nontra bought out his contract, acquiring Poe Boy's rights to the beat in the process. The label claimed it reached out to Mustard when the single was being promoted on California radio last year but that he "failed to respond to their advances."
Interesting to notice that although the song has apparently gotten radio play, neither The Hollywood Reporter nor Nontra list what the track actually is. So we're struggling to find something to compare "Party Ain't A Party" to.
So is this just stupidity on Mustard's part? Forgetting that he had already sold off a beat to another buyer? Apparently not, as Nontra also claims the lyrics to the single are spot-on to J Rand's tune, with the exception of the 2 Chainz guest spot. "Identical" is the term used by Nontra to describe the similarity and we assume they're not kidding.
For now the company is demanding $150,000, not all that bad in an era of megasuits for copyright infringement. We'll see how it pans out but things aren't looking good for the Foxx party.
