Music mogul Jay Z has faced a Los Angeles courthouse as he defended his "Big Pimpin" against accusations that the hit violated copyright infringement laws.

ABC News reported that Jay Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter, spoked before a jury and said that his "Big Pimpin" song, which catapulted him to fame in the late 90s, had licenses to use an Egyptian 1957 hit "Khosara Khosara" composed by the late Baligh Hamdi.  

However, the heirs of Hamdi denied the license and as they went after the "99 Problems" rapper. Carter was quick to defend his hit by showing an old CD copy of his song.

"We have the rights as you can see on the bottom of the CD," Carter said.

According to a musical expert, of the 74 notes in the Arabic hit, four notes were copied and repeated all throughout "Big Pimpin."

Along with Carter, producer Timbaland, whose real name is Timothy Mosley, was also there to defend the copyright infringement allegations. According to Reuters, Mosley said he had made the rhythm for "Big Pimpin" before adding "Khosara Khosara" in the beginning of the song. The producer even said that he found the CD of the Egyptian track and it was labeled as "license-free."

"I'm thinking it's free music, free songs, and I sampled it," Mosley told the court.

Mosley also said that when they were informed that there was a copyright claim over the 1999 hit, they immediately settled the dispute and paid EMI Music Arabia $100,000 for the license. A lawyer of Carter even said that the family was paid repeatedly for the license.

"Legal just told me, 100 grand and you're clear," Mosley said. "I thought I was free and clear," he added.

However, the producer said he never spoke personally with the family of the late Egyptian musician and wondered why they were ran after them despite paying for the license. He also said that the complainant and nephew of Hamdi, Osama Ahmed Fahmy, never initiated to contact them before filing the lawsuit. "I was like, so who did I pay the 100 grand to?" the producer wondered.

Meanwhile, Fahmy admitted that he did not contact Mosley, Carter or any of the executives that issued license for his uncle's work before filing a lawsuit in 2007.

However, the lawyer of Fahmy also cried foul over Carter's use of vulgar words over Hamdi's musical creation the lyrics were never deemed an issue in the case.

Testimony of Fahmy will be heard on Wednesday via video.