Chicago - Hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan have become the first musicians to legally license a sample from a Beatles song for one of their own compositions, Pitchfork reported on Tuesday.

Many, if not most hip-hop songs feature samples of copyrighted songs that artists must seek permission and pay licensing fees for in order to release them commercially.

However, the Beatles have to this point refused to license any of their music for sampling by hip-hop artists -- and in fact still have yet to license their own lucrative catalog for sale via digital distribution at all.

The Beatles sample in this case comes from the song "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," and will be featured on the Wu-Tang track "Gently Weeps," from their forthcoming album "8 Diagrams."

The track will also feature a guest appearance from the late Beatle George Harrison's son, Dhani.

While Wu-Tang appears to have the first legal Beatles sample, hip-hop producer Danger Mouse also borrowed liberally from the Beatles' "White Album" for his 2004 "Grey Album," which mixed Beatles instrumental samples with the vocal tracks from hip-hop artist Jay Z's "The Black Album."

Major label EMI, which controls the Beatles' copyrights, at the time demanded that retailers cease distribution of the Grey Album, which in turn led to unauthorized distribution online.

An online protest dubbed "Grey Tuesday" in 2004 found hundreds of websites posting the Grey Album album for free download, with organizers arguing that sampling should be viewed as "fair use" under copyright law, and that statutory licensing should be made available for the practice of sampling.

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/2ynp77 (Pitchfork)

http://www.wutang-corp.com

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Grey_Album