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Entertainment - E! Online

Juvenile No "Azz" Grabber
Tue May 6, 7:45 PM ET Add Entertainment - E! Online to My Yahoo!


By Marcus Errico

Juvenile's "Azz" is safe.




The hip-hopster has been cleared in federal court of swiping his signature hit, "Back that Azz Up," from a rival New Orleans rapper known as DJ Jubilee.


In a ruling handed down Monday in New Orleans, the five-man, one-woman federal jury found that Juvenile (real name: Terius Gray) had come up with the hugely popular track on his own and didn't rip-off Jubilee's like-titled "Back that Ass Up."


Jubilee, aka Jerome Temple, and his label, Positive Black Talk Inc., had filed the federal copyright-infringement suit against Juvenile, Cash Money Records and Universal Music claiming he masterminded the song in 1997 and released it on the album Take It to the St. Thomas in April 1998--seven months before Juvenile's version came out on the 400 Degreez disc.


The five-day trial played out with both rappers offering their side of the story (Juvenile said he first used the catchphrase "back that ass up" at a 1997 party attended by Jubilee) and both camps calling respective experts. Jubilee tapped a University of New Orleans professor who testified the songs were "exactly the same," while Juvenile had a Tulane University musicologist say that aside from the titles, "the songs are not that similar."


Ultimately the jury sided with the Juvenile. Jubliee, 37, is weighing an appeal.


According to New Orleans' Times-Picayune, Jubilee is a local artist known for hosting block parties and putting out "bounce" records, a New Orleans specialty combining rap, singsong and call-and-response refrains and accompanied by suggestive dance steps.


The Times-Picayune says Jubilee, who works as a high school special education teacher, has often told interviewers that his music has been regularly pilfered by others. Although popular in the Big Easy, Jubilee has never crossed over into mainstream success, like Juvenile.


On the flipside, Juvenile, the most prominent member of Louisiana's Cash Money collective, rode his "Azz" track to multiplatinum fame. His follow-up, Project English, opened at number two on the charts in 2001.


Since then, Juvenile's legal squad has been keeping plenty busy. In February, the 28-year-old rapper was sentenced to 75 hours' community service after pleading guilty to charges of aggravated battery, battery on a law enforcement officer, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, stemming from a 2001 incident in which he knocked a man unconscious with a Moet champagne bottle and grabbing a police officer outside a Miami comedy club.


Days earlier, Juvenile was rung up on cociane and marijuana possession charges after small amounts of the drugs were found in a car the rapper and three pals were riding in (all four men were charged). His lawyer, Morton Fry, called it a wrong-place, wrong-time situation and said Juvenile will be found innocent.


Fry also says that Juvenile will be vindicated in yet another incident, this one occurring last September and featuring the rapper allegedly slugging it out with a barber. Juvenile apparently thought the hair cutter bootlegged and sold tapes of his music. He and two pals are accused of beating up the barber and then making off with $200.


J.Lo's 'Flashdance' Prompts Letter From Paramount
Wed May 7,12:00 AM ET

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If you noticed that Jennifer Lopez's video for "I'm Glad" looked an awful lot like the '80s movie Flashdance, you're not alone. The lawyers at Paramount Pictures, the studio behind the Jennifer Beals (news) film, thought so too--so much so that Paramount sent Sony a legal letter, alleging copyright infringement. The two companies are settling out of court.