Black Eyed Peas Frontman will.i.am Admits to Stealing Artist’s Song
Will.i.am is a song thief. The Black Eyed Peas leader has admitted that his new song "Let's Go" was heavily taken from another artist's song, but he is currently fixing the copyright infringement issue.
Last week, Russian DJ Arty has claimed that Will stole the beats of his song from "Rebound," a track Arty recorded with British DJ Mat Zo. He also said that no one from Interscope, will.i.am's label, had reached out to him or to Anjunabeats, the imprint that released his song.
Arty was right, though, about their songs' similarity. Will has confessed that the beats of "Let's Go" were in fact taken from "Rebound," but there was just a misunderstanding regarding the licensing. He allegedly collaborated with Arty on the track, but "something happened" and he never got the clearance on time.
"Arty is a dope producer so I wrote this song to 'Rebound' this last year," the American music superstar said in an interview with KISS FM, and which is obtained by Huffington Post. "I got in touch with Arty and showed it to him, did a different version to it 'cause I asked him [to] make it newer 'cause I don't just wanna take your song and rap over it. But we did that, we collaborated.
"But in a year's time, time's gone by [and] we preferred writing over and using the [original] rebound. Something happened and the clearance... hopefully we resolved the issue."
Will added that he has already contacted the other camp and they are currently fixing the issue.
"Let's Go" is a track from his new album "#willpower," and features Chris Brown.
This isn't the first time will.i.am has been accused of plagiarism. He was sued by British singer Tulisa earlier this year for allegedly stealing her lyrics in "Scream and Shout," a collaboration he did with Britney Spears. He admitted to using her song, but he claimed he received it from the original producer who apparently didn't want it on Tulisa's album.
Also in 2010, a Chicago artist known as Phoenix Phenom claimed that the rapper, along with the rest of the Black Eyed Peas group - Fergie, apl.de.ap, and Taboo - stole beats from her track "Boom Dynamite" and used it in the group's hit single "Boom Boom Pow." She claimed that she and songwriter Manfred Mohr sent a demo tape of the song to Interscope Records, at the label's request, not knowing that they were going to give portions of her song to other artists.