5 African music stars who were accused of stealing songs
We take a look at these big name artists whose names of have been dragged through the dirt after they were accused of stealing music.
But others will swear blind that using a riff, melody, or tone of another artist’s song is stealing, ripping, robbing and thieving and is unequivocally wrong.
Jah Prayzah
The Zimbabwean musician’s song Sisi Makachena released in 2013 was, in fact, an original composition of Ghanaian musician Samini’s 2007 hit song titled “Samini.”
Musician Jah Prayzah admitted that he copied the beat of his song “Mwanasikana” on the album “Tsviriyo”
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M.anifest
The award-winning Ghanaian rapper came under intense scrutiny when he was accused of stealing Belizean musician and producer, Ivan Duran’s beat for his hit song “Someway Bi.”
The said beat originally appeared on Umalali’s “Mérua” which was recorded in 2009 but M.anifest’s “SomeWay Bi” was released in 2013.
READ ALSO: Top 10 most popular African songs of 2017
Wizkid
Even before this claim surfaced, Wizkid has for a while been hit with all sort of song theft accusations, which got most people wondering if the 'Pakurumo' crooner, was not smart enough to write himself some hit song. Dammy Krane, an artiste signed unto Tuface's Hypertek records, took to social media to vent. From stealing materials to actually stealing the song Babanla, Wizkid, made our list of artistes who are kings of plagiarism.
Tuface
This right here was like the epic of all song theft case in the history of the Nigerian music scene. The evergreen song, 'African Queen' powerfully rendered by Tuface became a smashing hit in no time, placing him in the hall of fame for legends in the entertainment industry. African queen not only topped charts, it went global. It became the song, Hollywood practitioners could directly link with Nigeria without as much as scattering their Ed Sheeran locks (Their brand of dread). Reports also claim that the song African Queen was actually sung by a Jamaican, Sizzla Kolonji in other words, Tuface stole a stolen song.
Nameless
Nameless found himself in hot soup after he was accused by serge nkurunziza, a Burundian singer, for using his beat for song amahera for his famous hit Salari, nameless was quick to refute the claims ,saying the lyrics were different although there was some mix up at the studio that’s why the beat was the same. He explained that he bought the beat from Ugandan producer Washington and it’s unfortunate the beat is the same.
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