Cee-Lo May Or May Not Have Some Hendrix To Play With

The problem with anything involving Jimi Hendrix and lawyers is that you never know if it’s good news or bad news. The latest good news would seem to be that Cee-Lo’s label has acquired the right to license the pre-Experience Hendrix recordings, and plans on using them as the basis of “an as-yet-titled project featuring contemporary producers, likely to include Cee-Lo himself and other Atlanta based hip-hop producers like OutKast and Goodie Mob.” Awesome! Except the story doesn’t make clear exactly what recordings they have the rights to, nor whether they will actually able to be approve any uses themselves.

The story goes like this: Hendrix signed a super-exploitive deal with a guy named Ed Chalpin in the early 60s, and Chalpin subsequently recorded a bunch of his songs. Like anyone else who had anything to do with Hendrix, Chalpin was sued, perhaps with some justification, by the Hendrix estate, and is now required to pay them an override royalty on any money he makes from the recordings and cannot enter into new license deals without the estate’s consent. But there are also another batch of recordings that Chalpin was required to turn over to the estate directly, which would then presumably be wholly controlled by the estate. The story primarily mentions Chalpin, but based on what they say, it sounds like Cee-Lo’s label would still have to get any licenses approved by the estate, which means they’re not licensing them, they’re just shopping them around. Does Cee-Lo have a side deal with the estate, or just with Chalpin?

As always, let’s turn to Zombie Hendrix for some answers.

Idolatemp: what’s up foxygravey: mmmmgggg Idolatemp: so it’s awesome that cee-lo can go crazy with those masters, but can he actually do that, or does your estate need to clear everything first? foxygravey: rrrggggghhhhhmmmm…fuh Idolatemp: wait, why do you type like you talk? that doesn’t even make sense foxygravey: nnnnnnn…eehhhh…ti…kettt Idolator: whatever, zombie hendrix

Gnarls Jimi: Cee-Lo Green acquires infamous Jimi Hendrix masters [Daily Swarm]