Copyright infringement is a crime that is frowned at all over
the world. Albeit, it is taken more seriously in some countries than others. In
Nigeria it is hardly a crime to scrounge on another’s intellectual property,
little wonder it is practiced with some measure of gusto. In this illuminating
piece, we take a look at some of the culprits of this particular crime.
P-SQUARE
P-Square Peter and Paul Okoye of P-Square are one of the
biggest artistes out of Africa. They’re also one of the guiltiest when it comes
to copyright issue. The duo brazenly lifts lyrics and rhythms from other songs;
especially international ones. They are known to have sampled existing music
for their songs like ‘Danger,’ ‘Get Squared,’ ‘Last Nite,’ ‘Roll It,’
‘Onyinye,’ ‘Game Over’ among others. It should be recalled that an actress,
Steph Nora-Okereke, once accused the twin brothers of stealing her song, ‘Jeje’
which she had earlier sent to their brother, Jude, to get his opinion. P-Square
Brothers
KETCHUP
Ketchup’s career is just warming up, but he needs to be
really careful if he wants to have a long stay in the music industry. In one of
his latest songs, ‘Pam Pam,’ Ketchup wantonly lifted the lyrics from Shaggy’s
‘It Wasn’t Me,’ and Chaka Demus & Pliers’ ‘Bam Bam.’ The copyright
infringement is so blatant as Ketchup sang, ‘Shoddy came in and she caught me
red-handed sleeping with the girl next door…’ which is the exact lyrics used by
Shaggy in the original song. It would be interesting to see what will happen if
Ketchup travels out of the country to perform ‘Pam Pam,’ and Shaggy, Chaka
Demus & Pliers, or their representatives, get a wind of it. Well; your
guess is as good as mine!
DI’JA
Half-Sierra-Leonan, half-Nigerian Mavin singer, Dija, is also
culpable when it comes to copyright infringement. In her latest song, ‘Take
Kiss,’ she sampled another Nigerian singer, Jodie’s ‘Kuchi Kuchi’ melody. She
also borrowed a leaf from Ketchup as she ‘stole’ from Shaggy’s ‘It Wasn’t Me’
for one of the verses of her song as well.
OLAMIDE
This dude from Bariga, Lagos, is distinctly talented and
creative; everybody knows that. But he is also in this copyright bus. He used
the name of a popular old movie, ‘Yemi My Lover’ as the title of his 2013
hit-song; and of course, that made the record more successful as it invoked
nostalgic feelings in people who are familiar with the movie. In an earlier
chat, Yemi Ayebo, who is the producer of the movie, stated that Olamide did not
seek his permission in any way before using the film-title. However, Yemi
stated that he likes Olamide’s music; hence, he wouldn’t be dragging the
‘Durosoke’ rapper to the court. It should be recalled that D’banj’s producer,
Deevee, recently called out the rapper for stealing D’banj’s song to make his
own ‘Don’t Stop’ which is contained in his ‘Eyan Mayweather’ album.
CLARENCE PETERS
Clarence Peters, Nigerian music video directors have been
given kudos for the good quality of music videos they have managed to churn out
over the years. But many of them are also borrowing other people’s goods
without acknowledgment. Clarence Peters is alleged to have stolen concepts from
many foreign songs for the videos he directs. He reportedly copied the idea of
South African rapper, Tumi Molekane’s ‘Asinamali’ for Tiwa Savage’s ‘Eminado.’
Clarence was also accused of yanking the concept of US rap group,
Slaughterhouse’s ‘My Life’ video for Ice Prince’s ‘VIP.’ The above examples are
just some of the many allegations against Peters, though he has never addressed
the issue.
MOE MUSA
Mr. Moe Musa, a
London-based video director is another person walking the thin line of
copyright infringement. He is alleged to have stolen the concept for Davido’s
‘Skelewu’ music video from LMFAO’s ‘Party Anthem’ as both music videos have
similar scenes and sequence.
2FACE/BLACKFACE
Former Plantashun Boiz group members, 2face and Blackface
have been at loggerheads for a while due to issues of copyright. Blackface is
alleged to have written the widely-successful ‘African Queen’ which 2face got
acclaim for. However, 2face later paid Blackface royalties from the song. More
recently, Blackface accused 2face of also denying him credit in the song ‘Let
Somebody Love You’ which they both wrote together in their days as Plantashun
Boiz. 2face later featured American singer, Bridget Kelly in the song, and
included it in his The Ascension album.
WIZKID/BLACKFACE
Blackface also recently accused Wizkid of stealing the lyrics
for his global hit, ‘Ojuelegba’ from him.
DAVIDO/PASSWORD
Omo Baba Olowo singer, Davido had his share of copyright
infringement controversy when an upcoming act, Password accused him of stealing
the concept and lyrics of the song, ‘Gobe.’
SKALES/WIZKID
Former EME signees, Wizkid and Skales went for each other’s
jugular over the widely popular song, ‘Azonto’. Skales claimed that Wizkid
stole the song from him.
Written by Tofarati Ige and Edited by Emeka E. Okeke
