Nigerian artist and EmPawa record label founder, Mr. Eazi, legally known as Oluwatosin Ajibade is calling out Latino artist, Bad Bunny for copyright infringement on his last album, Un Verano Sin.
Mr. Eazi, a leading figure in African music and the boss of emPawa Africa has accused Bad Bunny of song theft of the track, “Empty My Pockets,” which is part of his album.
Un Verano Sin is Bad Bunny’s fourth studio solo album and the album remained at the number 1 spot for 13 weeks on the Billboard 200 charts. According to Mr. Eazi, several components of the 2021 song, “Empty My Pocket,” written and performed by Joeboy and produced by Dëra (also known as Dëra Boy) were used without permission.
Additionally, the song “Enséame a Bailar” from Bad Bunny’s Un Verano Sin incorporates melodies and Dëra’s composition throughout, and in the coda, it directly samples the vocals from “Empty My Pocket.”
Nevertheless, “Enséame a Bailar”—which was not authorized by emPawa, the record company and publisher of Joeboy—was published in May 2022 without giving Joeboy any credit or acknowledgment. He boldly stated,
“We will not accept Bad Bunny and Rimas denying Joeboy and Dëra credits and a share in the ownership of a song they wrote, composed and, in Joeboy’s case, even performed on.”
Listen to Bad Bunny’s “Enséame a Bailar”
Listen to Joeboy’s “Empty My Pocket”
As a result of the unauthorized exploitation of their songs, Bad Bunny and his record label, Rimas Music, are being demanded to give credit and restore the rights to emPawa Africa artists Joeboy and Dëra.
Mr Eazi further revealed that he had reached out to Bad Bunny and his team to settle the copyright infringements issue privately. However, he shared that his efforts were futile therefore he opted to go public after seeing how Bad Bunny’s team was uncooperative.
Finally, Mr. Eazi, who seems disappointed with the whole issue, confessed how music plagiarism motivated him to create emPawa Africa.
“I founded emPawa Africa to protect and support African creative entrepreneurs and artists with a virtuous ecosystem, believing that afrobeats and afropop would be today what we wished then it would become,” Mr Eazi says.
Meanwhile, all Mr. Eazi is asking for are 2 things – Dëra’s co-production credit and Joeboy’s publishing, songwriting, and feature credits for “Enséame a Bailar.”
Let us know if you think Bad Bunny’s copyright infringement accusation is true.
Image Credits: (l to r) Mr. Eazi – Kin Kwesy | Bad Bunny – Theo Wargo / Staff Getty Images | Joeboy – @mediakid_
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