Hush That Fuss
Does anyone else out there think it's absolutely ridiculous that Rosa Parks is moving forward with her lawsuit against Outkast for their song of the same name?
Anyone else think this lawsuit might have gone away if Outkast hadn't become so popular with their last few records?
First Amendment anyone?
At least it's good for comedic value. Check out the translation of the hook from the lyrics to legalese:
OUTKAST
Ah ha, hush that fuss
Everybody move to the back of the bus
Do you wanna bump and slump with us
We the type of people make the club get crunk
LEGALESE
Be quiet and stop the commotion.
OutKast is coming back out [with new music] so all other MCs [mic checkers, rappers, Master of Ceremonies] step aside.
Do you want to ride and hang out with us?
OutKast is the type of group to make the clubs get hyped-up/excited.
Outkast have gone on record saying the song is not about her. Quoth Andre 3000 "We (OutKast) never intended for the song to be about Rosa Parks or the civil rights movement. It was just symbolic, meaning that we comin' back out, so all you other MCs move to the back of the bus." Parks claims the group is using her name to sell records but I seriously doubt many people (if anyone at all) bought the album because of the name of that song.
As some peeps on The Velvet Rope pointed out, Parks wasn't the first person to refuse to give up her bus seat, just the one civil rights leaders wanted to use as an icon.
Ms. Parks case, repped by Johnnie Cochran of all people, was thrown out of court once but has since been reinstated on appeal. Here's the full legal brief.
Rosa sued in '99, dude. Rewrite that second paragraph.
Absolutely not. I know she sued in 1999. Since then the suit has been thrown out of court, appealed, reinstated and Outkast have released 2 records that sold a shit load of copies.
So I ask again, if Outkast were selling as many records as say Company Flow, would Rosa Parks give a shit?
Call me naive, but either Rosa's suing not for the money but for her name, or she's got some little money-grubbing grandkid calling the shots, suing anyone that looks at her cross-eyed.
Either way you slice it this is a classic example of money and the courts' time being wasted for something that should have stayed thrown out of court. Whoever is doing the suing I think this would never happen if Outkast wasn't so hot right now.
And as an aside, the latest album is damn good.