Hip Hop stars Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion have won in court after a lawsuit that accused them of stealing the lyrics to their smash hits “WAP” and “Thot S—-” was thrown out.
In a decision issued this week, a Manhattan Federal Judge ruled that the lyrics Cardi and Megan were accused of copying in their songs — “p—- so wet” and “n—-s wild’n” — were simply too unoriginal to be covered by copyright law.
The ruling dismissed a lawsuit filed last year by Denise Jones, a rapper who performs under the name Necey X, against Cardi (Belcalis Marlenis Almanzar), Megan (Megan Pete), and Atlantic Records.
Jones, who sued without the aid of a lawyer, claimed that the stars chose to “copy and paste” her lyrics into their songs. However, in Tuesday’s decision, Judge Carter said Jones not only lacked valid copyrights in those lyrics but that Cardi and Megan’s own words were not “substantially similar” to those in “Grab Em” — the key requirement for proving copyright infringement.
The lawsuit also included additional claims beyond copyright law, including that Cardi and Megan had stalked and harassed Jones. But Judge Carter quickly dispatched those allegations as well.
WAP was released in August 2020 by Cardi with guest vocals by Megan, and became a smash hit, spending four weeks atop the Hot 100.
Meanwhile, “Thot Shit,” was released a year later by Megan and was partly inspired by the backlash that “WAP” had received from conservative critics; it reached No. 16 on the Hot 100.
