Courtney Love is claiming everywhere (the original source is the Huffington Post) that she gave permission to Jay-Z to use Nirvana’s lyrics, in particular lyrics from the famous ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ song, since she is the rapper’s friend:
‘I’m letting Jay-Z use lyrics – Francis would freak [if she knew this.] Jay-Z’s huge and we’re friends. I mean we’re not besties or anything….’ In fact she seems to imply she did Jay-Z a big favor,… may be because she covered his ’99 Problems’ song at a Sundance Film Festival gig in January?
I just want to point out two things, just to demonstrate that Courtney Love is talking shit once again. First of all, since when rappers ask permission to use lyrics and samples? As a matter of fact, Love added at the end of the interview:
‘They [used it] without asking, which is kind of nervy but the business side has been taken care of so it’s fine.’
That’s my point, Jay-Z didn’t ask her to use the lyrics in the first place! She is just arranging reality once again to show she still has some power somehow. But this is my second point, I thought she had lost any legal rights over her husband’s work, as it was reported last year?
According to The Fix, which obtained the legal documents, Frances Bean Cobain ‘has taken over control of the publicity rights for the Nirvana icon’s name, likeness and appearance’, as Love ‘agreed to step down as Acting Manager of End of Music LLC—the business entity responsible for generating cash from Cobain’s publicity rights’ after receiving a large loan from Frances’ trust fund. The Fix explained that Courtney Love ‘has no say in her daughter’s affairs and little influence over the use of Kurt’s publicity rights and music’ and that ‘only Mestel [of Primary Wave Music] and Primary Wave have the power to decide how Kurt’s music is used’.
So why is she screaming she gave the permission to Jay-Z to use Cobain’s lyrics for his new album ’Magna Carta Holy Grail’? Because she wants us to believe she still has some control when she has lost everything,… once again she is being pathetic.