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Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter, mononymously known as Beyoncé, was recently sued by a group of musicians called Da Showstoppaz. The group is reportedly charging her with copyright infringement, and the legal documents also mention the names of Jay-Z and Big Freedia. The issue is related to her song, Break My Soul, which was included in the soundtrack of the Renaissance album.
The singer sampled Big Freedia's single Explode for her song, and the lawsuit against her stated that Explode was a copy of another song by Da Showstoppaz, Release a Wiggle. The lawsuit was filed on May 22, 2024, at a federal court in Louisiana.
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Beyoncé's representatives are yet to share a statement on the legal issue. Furthermore, the rest of the people mentioned in the documents have not responded to anything until now.
Da Showstoppaz is seeking damages from profits accumulated by Beyoncé and Big Freedia: Lawsuit details explained
The lawsuit states that Big Freedia's Explode used the phrase "Release yo' wiggle" several times. It reportedly mentions that Beyoncé did the same in her single Break My Soul. Notably, Da Showstoppaz was a musical group that was active for a brief period. Their song Release a Wiggle was a part of their mixtape, which turned out to be successful, as per Fox 8 Live.
The plaintiffs include Tessa Avie, Keva Bourgeois, Henri Braggs, and Brian Clark, who have been represented by lawyers Shermin Khan and Abid M. Hussain. According to the Independent, the lawsuit states:
"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 LGBT 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 lawsuit also says it is easy to identify the similarity between Da Showstoppaz and Big Freedia's songs. The group reportedly claimed that none of the artists credited them while releasing the projects, including Beyoncé's film, Renaissance, which came out last year.
The group is now seeking credits in both songs and compensation and royalties for future licenses. The defendants have not responded to the lawsuit so far, and further updates are currently awaited.
Beyoncé's album is included in the 100 Best Albums list by Apple Music
Queen Bey's sixth album, Lemonade, was added to the 10th position of Apple Music's 100 Best Albums list on May 22, 2024. The news came a few days after Beyoncé's self-titled album grabbed the 36th spot on the same list.
Notably, Lemonade was released in 2016 and received a positive response from fans and critics. It also held a record with sales of more than 2 million copies around the world.
The album reached the top spot on the US Billboard 200 and other charts, such as UK R&B Albums and South Korean International Albums. Lemonade was a recipient of nine nominations at the Grammy Awards and 11 at the MTV Video Music Awards.
The first spot on the list of Apple Music was taken by The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. The titles were chosen by a committee that included faces from the music industry and others from the company.
