Beat jacking might just be rap’s not-so-secret epidemic. Yesterday, producer Major Seven accused K.E. On the Track of stealing the beat for “The Devil Is A Lie” (pretty ironic, given the title). We’re still not sure which side is being honest but K.E. not having much of a rebuttal (he used Jay Z-‘s “You need more people,” line instead), and Seven not backing down from his claims proves that at least one party is more concerned than the other. This could be because K.E.’s has video kinda sorta showing him building the beat for “The Devil Is A Lie,” but it doesn’t actually prove he did it from scratch.
Also, it’s pretty easy to throw out accusations and social media is the perfect forum to do so. It’s a quick way to get attention without having to produce any real evidence. Keeping that in mind take a look at 10 other producers who were accused to plagiarizing instrumentals.
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Photos: Facebook/Twitter
Just Blaze Producer Keno (“Beez in the Trap”) exclusively told us that Just Blaze mimicked his original beat for Fab’s “I’m So NY.” Just Blaze denied the claim with this tweet: “I can’t give drama much time, But no beats were harmed or stolen in the making of So New York. Now off to this family vacation.” Good enough?
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Red One Red One got caught out there over Nicki Minaj’s “Starships” single. Chicago producer Clive Tanaka sued Red One for allegedly ripping off his song “Neu Chicago,” which is no longer available on YouTube because of separate copyright claim. The irony.
Mac Miller Mac Miller’s “La La La,” got him on the sh*t list of producers who said he didn’t give them proper credit. The whole thing blew up on the streets on New York City in a show of hilariously epic struggle. Peep the video here, it’s pretty great.
Polow Da Don If you believe the rumors, then Polow Da Don is a repeat offender. The Atlanta beat builder allegedly stole the music for Lil Wayne’s “John,” and reportedly jacked Apple’s Garage Band once. C’mon dude.
T-Minus Another Weezy beat was called into question in 2011. Toronto native T-Minus was targeted for taking the “She Will” beat from a struggle rapper who goes by J-Lie (interesting name). The whole thing could’ve have just been a publicity stunt for J-Lie. On the flip side, YMCMB is notorious for shady business practices, so there’s that.
Diddy The great Pete Rock accused Diddy of stealing the idea for “Juicy” from him. As the story goes, Pete played the original instrumental for Diddy (when he was going by “Puff Daddy”) and the Notorious B.I.G. back in the day. He opted to keep it for himself only to find out that the Bad Boy Records CEO already had his paws on the music and released it as Biggie’s first single. Cold world.
Diplo An Azealia Banks track got Diplo in trouble. His beat for the Harlem rappers’ “F*ck the Fun” track was exposed over its sonic likeness to Dutch producer DJ Master-D’s “Mad Drumz” instrumental. Turns out the track was really a “collaboration” between the two, so the credits were later changed to include Master D.
Will.I.Am. Will.I.Am is an admitted music poacher. He was accused of stealing to make his songs “Let’s Go,” and “Rebound” but he only admitted to one of the two.
Timbaland A record label in Finland filed a lawsuit against Timbo and Nelly Fortado for lifting the beat from “Do It” (off Fortado’s 2006 album, Loose) from a 2000 song called “Acidjazzed Evening.” Timbaland blasted the rumor saying, “Sample and stole is two different things.” Word.
