PRODUCER HIRES A MUSICOLOGY PROFESSOR TO HELP HIM WITH LIL WAYNE COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT CASE!

A producer who claims he made the original beat for Lil Wayne's hit single "Mrs. Officer" has hired an expert witness to testify on his behalf, relating to a copyright infringement lawsuit.

Michael 'Mali Boy' Bradford filed the original lawsuit in January of 2009, claiming that he made the original beat for the hit single, which features Bobby V.

Bradford's lawsuit claims he made the original track five years before it was reworked by producer Deezle, who was given credit for the song, which is featured on Wayne's hit album Tha Carter III.

According to Bradford, he made the original beat on an instrumental track titled "Popeye."

That track was turned into a song named "Crush" by an artist named Sky, which the lawsuit claims Lil Wayne allegedly would have had access to.

Bradford, who is currently fighting a motion to dismiss the claim, has hired Dr. Felicia M. Miyakawa of Middle Tennessee State University to testify on his behalf.

Dr. Miyakawa, who is an Associate Professor of Musicology and Assistant Director of the MTSU School of Music, claims that there is enough evidence to take the matter to trial.

"Hip-Hop producers have become adept at reducing samples to smaller and smaller chunks of sound and reordering sampled bits so that the source material will be unrecognizable," Dr. Miyakawa wrote. "But if random V103 audience members can hear these striking similarities, clearly the producer of 'Mrs. Officer' did not hide the source material and in particular the riffs - adequately. Further, these riffs are the most identifiable parts of a larger groove that establishes the identity of a previously copyrighted song."

Producer Darius "Deezle" Harrison also sued Lil Wayne for nonpayment of $2.5 million worth of royalties on the hit single "Mrs. Officer."


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