The Tupac Shakur Estate is still battling bootlegging and unauthorized releases of his material.
Lawyers for his Estate filed a temporary injunction to block further selling and distribution of In His Own Words, which was released by Mecca Records earlier this year. Mecca Records, and its CEO, Joe Iziro sought to have rights granted to them even though they released the CD without permission.
MCA Publishing refused to grant them the rights, noting that they have already begun selling the Tupac Shakur release with no permission. The release broke onto the Billboard 200 last week, and it features Pac being interviewed by Davey D, who is the community affairs director for KMEL in San Francisco, along with other conversations with the acclaimed rapper.
“I really don’t know who legally has the rights to it,” KMEL music director Glen Aure, whose station first put out the legendary Tupac interview, “but In His Own Words is not put out by KMEL in any way, shape or form.”
Barring an out-of-court settlement, the matter is expected to be settled in court, David said, adding that a date has not yet been set for the case to be heard.
This post was originally published on August 2, 1998.
