Swizz Beatz sues North Carolina nightclub over DMX song
Swizz Beatz has filed a lawsuit against a nightclub in North Carolina.
The producer has accused BoatYard by Lake Norman of playing DMX’s ‘Party Up (Up in Here)‘, which he produced, without permission.
According to The Charlotte Observer, a lawsuit was filed in the US District Court in Charlotte on June 16th.
The suit was filed against BoatYard owner Chris Boukedes and his LLC, Hello Bye, claiming he’s owed royalties.
The lawsuit, filed by Swizz and several record labels, claims the nightclub owes up to $30,000 in damages. Boukedes is accused of “refusing all of ASCAP’s license offers for Boatyard,” yet “continuing to perform publicly copyrighted musical compositions written and owned by ASCAP’s members.”
DMX released ‘Party Up’ in 2000, peaking at number 27 on the Hot 100. It was nominated for ‘Best Rap Solo Performance’ at the Grammy Awards.
Despite its success, DMX initially disliked the song and didn’t want to finish it. However, Swizz has received some big payments because of it.
“The ‘meet me outside’ part was spur of the moment but it got famous and people started paying me extra to do the outro,” he once told Complex. “I would charge $15,000 extra just for the outro at that time. Even today people want that on their tracks. I just went in there bugging out. I didn’t think they would keep the ‘One, two, meet me outside.’”
He continued, “That outro came from me DJing and always wanting to control the crowd. Being a DJ was my biggest secret weapon. I was thinking about how people would react in the club. I knew how to control the crowd so I knew how to make records for the crowd. I’d think, ‘When I play this in the club they’re gonna go crazy.’ I still use that.”