Back in 20o2, Archie Eversole created a national hit with “We Ready,” a rap song that was used nation wide by athletes during pre-game warm ups as motivation. Including young Lebron James, who then was the top-ranked high school basketball player in the country. However, this same chant used to get James and his teammates amped up before a game, is now being used as the basis of a lawsuit for copyright infringement.
According to The Hollywood Reporter a lawsuit was filed Tuesday in Georgia federal court by Mason Hall, the songwriter behind Eversole’s chant-driven chorus, claims to have authored a copyrighted composition entitled, “We Ready.”
It is reported that Hall is suing Lionsgate as well as what may or may not be a LeBron James label at Interscope Records (“Interscope Lebron LLC”) for using his composition in the film without license.
During More Than A Game, James and his high school basketball teammates are shown to be chanting over and over the phrase, “We Ready,” during the warm-up of each game. In interviews shown during the documentary, it’s said that this “song” became adopted as a rallying chant for the team.
The “We Ready” cry got adopted into a rap song by YaBoy and put on the film’s soundtrack. James appears in the song’s music video.
But now, Hall says it’s his song and it was originally recorded by Archie Eversole, Jr.
Here’s the Eversole version.
Hall wants an injunction against further damages, including forcing Lionsgate to stop distributing the film. Hall also wants profits from the movie, punitive damages of more than $1 million or maximum statutory damages for copyright infringement.
The complicated thing about this lawsuit is that there are thousands of songs that use the words “We Ready” prominently throughout their song. However, given the time of the film, it is very reasonable to assume Eversole’s version was the inspiration for James’ chant. But does that fact prevent someone else from making a different song that also happens to use that common phrase as the chorus?
Do you think Hall has a reasonable case, or is he just trying to cash in TWICE on a one-hit wonder?
