Big Pimpin'/Papercut

Background

"Big Pimpin'/Papercut" is a mash-up between "Papercut", from Linkin Park's Hybrid Theory, and "Big Pimpin'", from Jay-Z's Vol. 3... Life And Times Of S. Carter. The "Big Pimpin'" portion of the track samples "Khusara Khusara" by Hossam Ramzy. Mike's verse from "Papercut" as well as the chorus of the song were re-recorded.

Speaking to Soundslam on December 2004, Mike Shinoda said, "BPM, theme, key, vibe—all of that played into my decisions of which songs to mix. Our guitarist, Brad, helped me a bit with that part—we usually brainstorm well together. Some were more obvious to me, like Big Pimipin with Papercut."

Sample Lawsuit

Produced by Timbaland and recorded in 1999, "Big Pimpin'" contained a snippet of a flute from "Khusara Khusara", an instrumental performed by Egyptian percussionist Hossam Ramzy and originally composed by Egyptian composer Baligh Hamdi in 1957, appearing in the film Fata Ahlami.

In 2005, the nephew and heir of Baligh Hamdi, Osama Admed Fahmy, authorized Ahab Joseph Nafal to fill an Intellectual Property - Copyright lawsuit on behalf of his family over the use of the sample. Jay-Z, Timbaland Productions, Linkin Park, EMI Music Inc., EMI Music Publishing, Ltd. and EMI Blackwood Music were among the defendants named in the lawsuit; Linkin Park being involved due to the song being mashed up with "Papercut" on the EP Collision Course. However, the lawsuit was dismissed because Nafal's license to the song was deemed to be non-exclusive. Nafal later argued that he had finally attained “100% of an exclusive license” over the original song, but the judge ruled that Nafal could only join the copyright owners in bringing a claim.

In 2007, a lawsuit was filled by Fahmy himself with the defendants also including Vivendi SA’s UMG Recordings, Viacom Inc’s MTV Networks, Roc-a-Fella Records, and many others. Besides alleging that the use of the track was unlicensed, his lawsuit contended that only the full, unaltered version of "Khusara, Khusara" could be legally licensed; since the use of the song in "Big Pimpin'" is an altered sampled loop, under Egyptian "moral rights" law, Jay-Z would have had to acquire permission from all four of Hamdy's children, who the song's rights were passed down to when Hamdy passed away in 1993.

The case went to trial in 2015, during which Timbaland said he found “Khusara Khusara” on a CD of public domain music and Jay-Z claimed he initially didn't know there was a sample in the beat. “Timbaland presented me with a track. I didn’t even think about there being a sample,” he said. It has been noted that Hossam Ramzy’s version is present in a 1992 compilation called The Best of Bellydance from Morocco, Egypt, Lebanon, Turkey which features a song called “Enta Omri (I)” (also performed by Ramzy) that Timbaland sampled in 2001 on Petey Pablo’s song “Raise Up”. A music expert testified that the "Khusara Khusara" sample in "Big Pimpin'" contains four notes from the song's 74. Timbaland’s attorneys brought out a keyboard for the producer to compose a beat in the courtroom in a move to demonstrate the relative unimportance of the sample, but technical problems with the keyboard interfered. Timbaland then started beatboxing to demonstrate the importance of the beat in his productions, not the samples. They also elaborated on the agreement Timbaland and Jay-Z reached in 2001 with EMI Music Arabia, which claimed rights from a deal with Middle Eastern record label Sout El Phan. $100,000 was paid to EMI Arabia for song rights, but Fahmy argued that the rights were not EMI’s to give.

The lawsuit was dismissed in 2016 after finding that Fahmy had surrendered his rights when he licensed the song and was therefore unable to pursue claims. In 2017, Fahmy and his attorney filed an appeal trying to shift their argument toward moral rights once again, but Jay-Z was officially awarded a victory in 2018.

Versions

Note: Only the date of the very first release of each version is listed.

Studio

Title	Album	Length	Recorded	Released	Notes
Big Pimpin'/Papercut	Collision Course	2:36	2004	November 30, 2004	Mash-up with Jay-Z. Samples Hossam Ramzy's "Khusara Khusara".
Big Pimpin'/Papercut	Collision Course (Clean)	2:36	2004	November 30, 2004

Live

Title	Album	Length	Recorded	Released	Notes
Big Pimpin'/Papercut	Collision Course		July 18, 2004	November 30, 2004	Censored. DVD only.
Big Pimpin'/Papercut	LP Underground 5.0	2:32	July 02, 2005	November 21, 2005	Recorded live at Live 8 in Philadelphia, PA. July 2, 2005. Jay-Z accidentally sang the beginning of verse two when the first chorus begins. This was fixed on the CD.

Live

"Big Pimpin'/Papercut" debuted at the MTV Ultimate Mash-Ups event in West Hollywood, California, along with the rest of the Collision Course tracks. Linkin Park and Jay-Z had to play each of the album's tracks twice due to lighting messing up. A little less than two weeks later, Jay-Z made a surprise appearance during Linkin Park's set in Holmdel, New Jersey on Projekt Revolution 2004, where he performed the first three songs of Collision Course with the band ("Big Pimpin'/Papercut" included). For some reason, the studio version of "Papercut" was still performed at the beginning of the setlist, while "Lying From You" and "Faint" were dropped in favor of their Collision Course counterparts.

The song was also performed at both 2005 shows, as well. The song has not been performed in any form since then.

Lyrics

Album Version

Hahaha
You're wasting your talent, Randy

It's like I'm paranoid, looking over my back
It's like a whirlwind inside of my head
It's like I can't stop what I'm hearing within
It's like the face inside is right…

Why does it look like night today?
Something in here's not right today
Why am I so uptight today?
Paranoia's all I got left
I don't know what stressed me first
Or how the pressure was fed
But, I know just what it feels like
To have a voice in the back of my head
It's like a face that I hold inside
A face that awakes when I close my eyes
A face that watches every time they lie
A face that laughs every time they fall
It watches everything
So I know that, when it's time to sink or swim
That the face inside is hearing me
Right underneath my skin

It's like I'm paranoid, looking over my back
It's like a whirlwind inside of my head
It's like I can't stop what I'm hearing within
It's like the face inside is right…

You know I thug ‘em, fuck ‘em, love ‘em, leave ‘em
Cause I don't fucking need ‘em
Take ‘em out the ‘hood, keep ‘em lookin' good
But I don't fucking feed ‘em
First time they fuss I'm breezing, talking about: What's the reason?
I'm a pimp in every sense of the word bitch
Better trust and believe him
In the cut where I keep ‘em
Til I need a nut, til I need to beat the guts
Then it's, beep, beep and I'm pickin ‘em up
Let ‘em play with the dick in the truck
Many chicks wanna put Jigga fist in cuffs
Divorce him and split his bucks
Just because you got good head, I'm gonna break bread
So you can be livin' it up? Shit I..
Parts with nothin', y'all be frontin'
Me give my heart to a woman?
Not for nothin', never happen I'll be forever mackin'
Heart cold as assassins, I got no passion
I got no patience
And I hate waitin'…
Hoe get yo' ass in
And let's RI-I-I-I-I-IDE… check ‘em out now
RI-I-I-I-I-IDE, yeah
And let's RI-I-I-I-I-IDE… check ‘em out now
RI-I-I-I-I-IDE, yeah

We doin'… big pimpin', we spendin' G's
Check ‘em out now
Big pimpin', on B.L.A.D.'s
We doin'… big pimpin' up in N.Y.C.
It's just that Jigga Man, Pimp C, and B-U-N B
Yo yo yo.. big pimpin', spendin' G's
We doin'… big pimpin', on B.L.A.D.'s
We doin'… big pimpin' up in N.Y.C.
It's just that Jigga Man, Pimp C, and B-U-N BYeah
Jigga what?
Jigga who?
Jigga what?
Jigga who?
Jigga what?
You gonna lead the vocal in, right?

Mother fuckers wanna act loco, hit ‘em up wit, numerous
shots with the fo'-fo'
Faggots runnin' to the Po-Po's, smoke ‘em like cocoa
Fuck rap, coke by the boatload
Fuck dat, on the run-by, gun high, one eye closed
Left holes through some guy clothes
Stop your bullshittin', glock with the full clip
Mother fuckers better duck when the fool spit
One shot could make a nigga do a full flip
See the nigga layin' shocked when the bullet hit
I hate my high youth, no niggas wanna buy you
But see me I wanna fuck for free
Now I gotta let her take this ride, make you feel it inside your belly,
If it's tight get the K-Y Jelly
All night get you wide up inside the telly
Side to side, 'til you say Jay-Z you're too much for me

I am a little bit of loneliness, a little bit of disregard
Handful of complaints but I can't help the fact that everyone can see these scars
I am what I want you to want, what I want you to feel
But it's like no matter what I do, I can't convince you to just believe this is real
So I let go watching you turn your back like you always do
Face away and pretend that I'm not, but I'll be here 'cause you're all that I got

Got a condo with nothin' but condoms in it
The same place where the rhymes is invented
So all I do is rap and sex, imagine how I stroke
See how I was flowin' on my last cassette?
Rapid-fire like I'm blastin' a Tec, never jam though
Never get high, never run out of ammo
Niggaz hatin' and shit cause I slayed your bitch
You know your favorite, I know it made you sick
And now you're, actin' raw but you never had war
Don't know how to carry your hoe, wanna marry your hoe
Now she's mad at me, 'cause Your Majesty, just happened to be a pimp
What a tragedy
She wanted, us to end, cause I fucked with friends
She gave me one more chance and I fucked her again
I seen her tears as she busted in, I said, Shit..
there's a draft, shut the door bitch and come on in!

I am a little bit insecure, a little unconfident
Cause you don't understand, I do what I can but sometimes I don't make sense
I am what you never wanna say, but I've never had a doubt
It's like no matter what I do, I can't convince you for once just to hear me out
So I let go watching you turn your back like you always do
Face away and pretend that I'm not, but I'll be here 'cause you're all that I got

I can't feel
The way I did before
Don't turn your back on me
I won't be ignored
Time won't heal
This damage anymore
Don't turn your back on me
I won't be ignored

No
Hear me out now
You're gonna listen to me
Like it or not
Right now
Hear me out now
You're gonna listen to me
Like it or not
Right now

I can't feel
The way I did before
Don't turn your back on me
I won't be ignored

I can't feel
The way I did before
Don't turn your back on me
I won't be ignored
Time won't heal
This damage anymore
Don't turn your back on me
I won't be ignored

I can't feel
Don't turn your back on me
I won't be ignored
Time won't heal
Don't turn your back on me
I won't be ignored