"Big Pimpin'" contains a
sample of "Khosara Khosara", performed by Egyptian vocalist
Abdel Halim Hafez and originally composed by prominent Egyptian composer
Baligh Hamdi in 1957. In 2007, Hamdi's relative Osama Ahmed Fahmy filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Federal Court alleging that producer
Timbaland's use of the track was unlicensed, while its use of a sampled
loop, instead of the full unaltered track, violated Hamdi's "moral rights". That same year, a 2005 lawsuit filed by Ahab Joseph Nafal, who claimed "Big Pimpin'" infringed the copyright on "Khosara Khosara", was dismissed. In 2011 a California federal judge ruled that Fahmy could proceed with his suit, with Jay-Z, Timbaland,
Linkin Park and
EMI Records among the defendants named. Linkin Park was included because the track was mashed up with the single "
Papercut" from their 2004 EP
Collision Course, a collaboration with Jay-Z. Lawyers for EMI Records argued the then-50-year-old track was governed by the 1909 Copyright Act. Jay-Z testified four years later that he was unaware his song contained a sample of "Khosara Khosara", and when asked why he did not check the rights to its use, he replied, "That’s not what I do. I make music." ==Music video==