An Indian composer is suing rapper Dr Dre claiming a record produced on his label for Truth Hurts borrowed heavily from a 20-year-old Hindi song.

Songwriter Bappi Lahiri filed the suit in the US District Court in Los Angeles the US, saying hit single Addictive was the product of "cultural imperialism" that did not credit Third World artists.

Dr Dre, real name Andre Young, is named in the lawsuit alongside Aftermath Records, its parent company Interscope Records, Universal Music and Vivendi Universal.

Lahiri wants to halt further sales of the album Truthfully Yours from female artist Truth Hurts.

Dr Dre's lawyer, Howard King, dismissed the lawsuit as Lahiri trying to cash in on the rapper's fame.

"There's no reason for him to be a defendant in this lawsuit, except that somebody's taking advantage of his name," Mr King said.

Superimposed

"He didn't write or perform on the record. It happens to have been released on a label he's part owner of."

Lahiri is accusing the producers of Addictive of copying four minutes of a song performed by Indian artist Lata Mangeshkar called Thoda Resham Lagta Hai.

"They literally superimposed their own drum track and lyrics over the beat," said Lahiri's lawyer Anthony Kornarens.

"It's our opinion that the label simply took it for granted that Hindi music was something they didn't need to pay for, that it could be used simply at will," Kornarens said.

A $500m (�320m) lawsuit has already been filed in a federal court against the same companies by Bombay-based film and music company Saregama India, which produced the original recording of Lahiri's song.