According to court documents obtained by TMZ, musician Julius Johnson filed a copyright infringement complaint on Monday (6.26) in California against Nicki Minaj over her 2014 song ‘I Lied.’
In the law suit, Johnson claims that the superstar rapper (born Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty) has been sued for copyright infringement over her 2014 song I Lied.) “directly copied” the beat from his 2011 song ‘onmysleeve’ to create ‘I Lied,’ that appeared on her 2014 full length, The Pinkprint.
Johnson alleges that the song’s beat was included on a hard drive that was taken from a 2013 studio session when he attended the Art Institute of Atlanta, before “associates” or “affiliates” of the Trinidadian artist who had access to the recording space allegedly got their hands on the hard drive.
The complaint claimed that both ‘onmysleeve’ and ‘I Lied “contain substantially identical underlying instrumentation and beat” and “utilize at least the same style instrument bed, rhythm, beats per minute, and song key”.
Along with Minaj, the filing named collaborators Mike Will Made It, Ester Dean and Skooly, and record label Universal Music Group as defendants. Johnson has sued for damages in the form of Minaj and Will’s earnings from the song, and has requested the court order to stop them from using it or to credit Johnson on it.
A source told TMZ that the rapper was not involved in creating the song’s rhythm, and that “Clearly Nicki is a lyricist, so the claim in terms of production will obviously have to be addressed by the applicable parties.”
Following TMZ tweeting the story, Nicki re-shared the article and added, “Do I make beats? You first on the list dummy.”
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Author: Al Denté
Photo: MTV International