"I Need A Freak" is an influential rap / electro song originally released in 1983 by the musical act Sexual Harassment. It has been recorded and sampled many times, most notably by the multi-platinum group Black Eyed Peas for their 2005 hit song My Humps.
In 2011 the song's composer Lynn Tolliver won a $1.2 million lawsuit against for unauthorized use of the song. Tolliver, a popular, long-time DJ from WZAK in Cleveland, Ohio told the Cleveland Plain Dealer, "I don't get all that money, and I don't have any of it yet, but this couldn't have happened at a better time... I've been unemployed the last few years and was near bankruptcy, so this is a blessing." Tolliver was well-known in Cleveland for his on-air stunts and was once attacked by a gunman at the station in 1985. Tolliver is listed under his pseudonym David Payton on the album credits. The song was also released on the 1996 compilation album Old School: Volume 6.
A dispute over royalties for the song were heard in an Ohio court in 2014.
Other artists who have covered the song include: