4. He “Borrows” A Lot of Biggie Lyrics
It’s great that Jay Z thinks so highly of the Notorious B.I.G. I mean come on, pretty much every rapper and fan of the genre does, but the man has “borrowed” a lot of Biggie’s lyrics in his songs. I get that he’s (probably) paying homage to a legend, but it’s a little much. Just spit your own rhymes. Or if that’s an issue, have someone else pen some new ones. At what point does it go from honoring someone else and alluding to his words to just straight up stealing. It’s a pretty fine line and I’m sure a lot of people have differing opinions on this, but it’s pretty likely that a lot of you singing along to “Jay Z lyrics” are actually spitting out Biggie verses- especially younger fans who aren’t familiar with older generations of rap music. Does Jay Z use the lyrics fairly or is that infringing on intellectual property? I’m just so curious: Is Jay Z paying Biggie’s estate to “borrow” from his rhymes? Or is he just throwing them out there for the hell of it?
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