Mr. Eazi, the music executive, has accused Bad Bunny, the Puerto Rican rapper, of copyright infringement.
In a Twitter post, the Nigerian claimed Bad Bunny, born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, ripped production elements off Joeboy who signed to Empawa, his talent incubator.
Eazi highlighted the songs involved as Joeboy’s ‘Empty My Pocket‘ and Bad Bunny’s ‘Enséñame a Bailar‘.
Joeboy’s song was published on YouTube in June 2021 while that of Bad Bunny was uploaded on the video-sharing platform in May 2022.
Streaming both songs on YouTube, the sound engineering appeared to be identical.
In a further callout via his LinkedIn, Mr. Eazi said all efforts to resolve the matter since May 2022 have proved abortive.
He claimed Bad Bunny recorded the song without undertaking a clearance process with Joeboy and Empawa.
Mr. Eazi also alleged that Rimas Music, Bad Bunny’s record label, is also denying Joeboy and his producer their rights.
Yo @sanbenito you need to tell your lawyers to stop messing around and clear that Joeboy rip off on your album
Advertisement— Genius (@mreazi) February 6, 2023
“The intent of Rimas Music is to blatantly appropriate young African creators’ work for their gain without attribution,” the music executive wrote.
“I founded emPawa Africa to protect and support African creative entreupreunors and artists with a virtuous ecosystem, believing that Afrobeats and Afropop would be today what we wished then it would become.
“I am sharing this story even if plagiarism accusations and copyright infringement lawsuits are nothing new in music, but in this specific case, it is an ill intent of robbery and abuse.
“As it is taking someone’s song recording it and interacting with condescendence because we are African and independent label? We understand business. We know the value of our culture and friendships.”
Bad Bunny is a Puerto Rican rapper-singer whose musical style is primarily defined as Latin trap and reggaeton.
The Puerto Rican is yet to react to the allegation — as of the time of this report.
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