Jay-Z is facing a sharp legal counterpunch in Alabama where attorney Tony Buzbee is trying to get the rap mogul’s extortion lawsuit tossed by throwing his own lyrics back at him.
Buzbee’s legal team filed a motion to dismiss the suit, arguing that Jay-Z is using the courts to retaliate against lawyers who represented a woman accusing him of child sexual abuse.
The woman, known as Jane Doe, alleged in 2024 that she was assaulted by Jay-Z and Diddy in 2000 when she was 13.
Though Jay-Z wasn’t initially named in the New York lawsuit, his name was later added after his legal team refused a private mediation offer.
Instead of negotiating, Jay-Z sued Buzbee and his firm in California for extortion and emotional distress.
After the New York case was dismissed in February 2025, Jay-Z filed another lawsuit in Alabama, this time accusing Doe and her lawyers of malicious prosecution, defamation and conspiracy.
Buzbee’s team says the Alabama court has no business hearing the case.
Buzbee’s attorney Matthew Jackson accused Jay-Z of using his influence to silence critics.
“Instead of accepting Doe’s invitation to confidentially discuss a settlement of her claims, Carter chose scorched-earth litigation…alleging that they were extorting him and intentionally causing him emotional distress. Carter and his representatives also dispatched investigators to harass Doe, her friends and family, as well as the Buzbee Firm’s current and former employees, clients, and other business contacts, and to also try to coerce the Buzbee Defendants’ former clients to sue them,” Jackson said.
To challenge Jay-Z’s claim that the allegations harmed his reputation, Buzbee’s team cited lyrics from his 2000 hit “Big Pimpin’.” Jackson wrote,
“To put those allegations in their proper context, it is helpful to view them alongside the following lyrics from one of Carter’s most successful songs… ‘You know I thug ‘em, f### ‘em, love ‘em, leave ‘em ‘cause I don’t f#####’ need ‘em.’”
The motion also calls Jay-Z’s conspiracy claim a “legal fantasy” and says the rapper hasn’t met the legal threshold for malicious prosecution under New York law.
The Alabama court has not yet ruled on the motion to dismiss.