DOCUMENT: Crime

Granny Socks Eminem, Dre With Sampling Suit

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Granny Socks Eminem, Dre With Sampling Suit

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SEPTEMBER 16--A 70-year-old California grandmother is suing Eminem over the rapper's unauthorized sampling of a musical piece authored by the woman's late husband, a veteran movie composer.

In a federal court lawsuit filed last month, Harlene Stein alleges that the rap star (real name: Marshall Mathers) used a piece of one of her husband Ronald's compositions on "Guilty Conscience," a cut from the rapper's acclaimed 1999 debut "The Slim Shady LP."

The Stein instrumental composition at the lawsuit's center is titled "Pigs Go Home" and is part of his score for Getting Straight, a 1970 film starring Elliott Gould and Candice Bergen (what's next, 50 Cent sampling "Papa, Can You Hear Me?" from Yentl?). Stein's lawsuit, a copy of which you'll find below, also names producer Dr. Dre (real name: Andre Young) and Eminem's music publishing companies and record label as defendants.

While "The Slim Shady LP" liner notes mention that "Guilty Conscience" contains "an interpolation" from "Pigs Go Home," Ronald Stein, who died in 1988, is not credited as the piece's composer. Nor has his widow, a grandmother of five who inherited Stein's publishing rights, been paid for the use of "Pigs Go Home" (which sounds like something NWA should have sampled).

While her lawsuit does not specify monetary damages, Stein could see quite a windfall since Eminem's first album sold nearly five million copies. (9 pages)