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Posted by Robert
Rap News Network
12/21/2003 9:07:35 AM
Tags and topics realted to this article include Outkast.
Civil rights legend Rosa Parks may be close to settling a legal battle against two rappers she has accused of tarnishing her name.
Parks' case received a boost this month when the Supreme Court declined to intervene in the suit, clearing the way for a federal appeals court in Detroit to hear her case against OutKast -- the rap duo of Andre 3000 (Andre Benjamin) and Big Boi (Antwan Patton).
One of OutKast's songs is called ''Rosa Parks.'' The song makes no direct references to the civil rights icon who refused to give up her seat to a white man and move to the back of a bus in Montgomery, Ala., in 1955. The song's chorus goes, ''Ah ha, hush that fuss/Everybody move to the back of the bus,'' but the rest of the song is about rivalries among rappers.
Gregory Reed, the Detroit lawyer who heads Parks' legal team, said a meeting between opposing lawyers in the case may resolve the suit. Parks' legal team also includes celebrity lawyer Johnnie Cochran.
''After the Supreme Court acted, a representative from Arista and OutKast said they were ready to meet,'' Reed said.
As part of a settlement, Reed wants Arista to produce CDs or DVDs that would educate hip-hop fans on Parks' efforts to integrate Montgomery. Reed said hip-hop is disrespectful to establishment figures. Reed said the parties were still trying to match a dollar figure to the damage done to Parks' name.
OutKast says their song is protected by the Constitution's guarantee of freedom of speech. But Reed disagreed. ''Each person's name has economic value,'' he said.
Joseph Beck, an Atlanta attorney who represents Arista and the rappers, said he saw the case as an issue of artistic freedom and free speech. ''We're confident the music will receive full First Amendment protection from the court,'' he said.
He said Arista earlier agreed to settle the case by holding a concert in Parks' honor, with the proceeds going to a charity, but Parks rejected that offer.
Parks, 90 and living in Detroit, says the song in question has wrongly enriched the rappers and their record label by using her name, which she has trademarked. Her suit against the rappers and their record label, Arista, also says she has been ''humiliated and emotionally disturbed'' by the use of her name in a song containing rough language.
A U.S. district judge in Michigan initially ruled in favor of OutKast and threw out the lawsuit. A three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati later reversed that ruling and reinstated Parks' suit. The Supreme Court's refusal to intervene in the case allows the suit to proceed.
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