April 25: Dr. Dre Sues Napster. (2000)
April 25, 2000 – On This Date In Hip-Hop, Dr Dre followed in the footsteps of Metallica and sued the file sharing service Napster. Napster was like an online heaven for broke niggas who wanted to download free music. Of course, this hit the industry in its pockets.
Prior to the suit Dr. Dre demanded Napster remove all his songs from its pool of available downloads. When they didn’t comply, Dre took them to court saying “Napster has built a business based on large-scale piracy.”
The file sharing network shut down in July 2001 to comply with an injunction brought on by a RIAA lawsuit. #RIPOldNapster.
GEM: Comments will make your wallet fat. 🤑
I remember South Park had an episode about this too…. Napster was the O.G. Then Limewire and Kazaa.