Da Showstoppaz, a New Orleans group, has accused Beyonce of copyright infringement over “Break My Soul,” a superhit song off her Renaissance record.
The New Orelans group, featuring Tessa Avie, Keva Bourgeois, Henri Braggs, and Brian Clark, filed a complaint in Louisiana federal court last Wednesday (May 22), claiming that Bey unlawfully used lyrics from their 2002 track “Release A Wiggle.”
The group alleged that Bey sampled Big Freedia‘s 2014 track “Explode,” which contained “copyrighted lyrics, melody, and musical arrangement” from “Release A wiggle,” making the feature in “Break My Soul” unlawful.
The lawsuit names the “Cowboy Carter” singer, Big Freedia, Sony Music, Jay-Z and more as defendants.
“Defendants used Plaintiffs’ words, melody, and musical arrangement from their copyrighted works to create an album as homage to ‘uncle Johnny’ who exposed the music and culture of the LGBTQ community of greater New Orleans, of which three members are strongly affiliated with themselves, all displayed in its full force – the tone, actual words, melody, musical arrangement of bounce music,” the suit claims, according to Rolling Stone. The lawsuit claims that the defendants have received “many accolades and substantial profits from ‘Explode’ and ‘Break My Soul’ and the ‘Renaissance’ album, the ‘Renaissance World Tour,’ and the Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé. Da Showstoppaz’s have received nothing – no acknowledgement, no credit, no remuneration of any kind.”
The New Orleans group are asking to be credited and for compensation rights on “Break My Soul” and “Explode” as well as royalties for future licenses on the tracks.
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