Afrobeats star Mr Eazi has slammed former collaborator Bad Bunny for copyright infringement over the Puerto Rican artists’ alleged unauthorised interpolation of Joeboy’s single, “Empty My Pocket”.
Mr Eazi is the founder of emPawa Africa, which is the label Joeboy is signed to. The “Pour Me Water” hitmaker’s claims are related to “Enséñame a Bailar” which is a song from Bad Bunny’s massive global album, “Un Verano Sin Ti”.
This dispute first became public earlier in the week when Mr Eazi tweeted: “Yo @sanbenito you need to tell your lawyers to stop messing around and clear that Joeboy rip off on your album.”
Yo @sanbenito you need to tell your lawyers to stop messing around and clear that Joeboy rip off on your album
— Genius (@mreazi) February 6, 2023
He then went on to share a link to the audio of the song in question. “Badbunny @sanbenito incase you are not sure what song I’m talking about.
“Joeboy song -https://youtu.be/eopPKANmKyg ( Your song ) Ain’t no way you produced and sang an Afrobeat record lol.”
Badbunny @sanbenito incase you are not sure what song I’m talking about
— Genius (@mreazi) February 6, 2023
Joeboy song - https://t.co/K6Cx2au7eZ https://t.co/nbstmxjieP ( Your song )
Ain’t no way you produced and sang an Afrobeat record lol
Mr Eazi then followed this up with a press statement that read: “The team at emPawa Africa have attempted to sort this issue amicably since May of last year with our mutual legal teams.
“But the intent of Rimas Music is clearly to blatantly appropriate young African creators’ work for their gain without attribution.”
“Afro-beats has become a global phenomenon, and everybody wants to sample a piece of it.
“Unfortunately, afro-beats artists, their producers and labels often have to pursue legal means to secure publishing and royalties after songs they originally created are co-opted without credit by other artists.”
On Wednesday, February 8, emPawa then sent out a statement demanding that Rimas Music, which is Bad Bunny’s label, credit Joeboy’s producer Dëra as the track’s co-producer and give Joeboy his publishing, songwriting and feature credits on the song.
Bad Bunny’s team responded to these accusations on Thursday, February 9, with a statement sent. “We are deeply concerned by the copyright infringement accusations made by Oluwatosin Oluwole Ajibade (Mr Eazi), the founder of emPawa Africa, on the track ‘Enséñame a Bailar’.
“We want to make it clear that at all times, Rimas Entertainment has acted properly and has followed standard industry protocols.”
The representative then went on to say that before releasing the song, Rimas purchased the master track from record producer Lakizo Entertainment, who they say is listed as the track’s creator and owner in numerous public sources.
“After the song’s release last year, emPawa contacted us, claiming ownership over the master,” they added.
“Our lawyers have had many communications with emPawa in an effort to resolve the ownership dispute between emPawa and Lakizo, but emPawa has so far failed to provide proof of ownership.”
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