Thomas Dolby News

Kevin Federline's single, "America's Most Hated," is back on the aspiring hip-hop star's MySpace site, now that he has replaced a possibly pilfered hook with some new lyrics. But even though K-Fed erased the original song from the page when the controversy arose, he might not be able to erase the situation quite so easily.

The track that took shape a few weeks ago purportedly sampled The Infamous rapper Mobb Deep's song "Got it Twisted"--but the familiarity trail doesn't end there. Mobb Deep originally borrowed from synth-pop star Thomas Dolby's 1983 hit "She Blinded Me with Science" for "Got it Twisted." So, by the transitive property or, whatever, Federline may have used Dolby's riff.

But according to Dolby, Federline never asked to use the '83 tune, whereas Mobb Deep went through certain legal channels and got a license to rip. Once Dolby got wind of the new single, he went public with his reaction, saying he never would have licensed his music for Federline's "vitriolic rap" and calling K-Fed's star lesser than Vanilla Ice's.

Cold.

(Vanilla Ice happened to come up because he reportedly borrowed the baseline for "Ice Ice Baby"--give or take a note--from David Bowie and Queen's "Under Pressure," sans permission. And he got sued. The matter was settled out of court and to this day we never know who's going to start singing--Bowie or Vanilla Ice--when we hear that familiar riff on the radio.)

Anyway, last week Dolby told MTV News that he would be consulting legal counsel over the matter, and it seems that's exactly what he did.

"It's not over," Dolby said in a phone interview Thursday with E! Online. "But I've been advised not to talk about it. You should know more in a few weeks."

So it sounds as if Federline could be getting more in the way of a reprimand than just complaints from a bunch of ticked-off Dolby fans. Reps for the rapper/reality star could not be reached for comment Thursday.

But at least Federline is rockin' some new creative content that could be fodder for his upcoming album, Playing with Fire, which he announced would set turntables a-burning in August.

Some of the replacement lyrics that made their way into the revamped version of "America's Most Hated" go like this:

"You're gonna need a big arm, if you're coming for me, K Federline, I hit like a tsunami."

We're not sure about blind, but that may be the way to become deaf from science.

Meanwhile, Dolby kicked off his first tour in 15 years this week at the House of Blues in Anaheim. He'll end up at the O2 Wireless Festival June 25 in London's Hyde Park.