D'banj's producer Deevee accuses Olamide of stealing ideas for songs from his client

AFROBEAT sensation D'Banj has warned rival musician and hip hop artist Olamide to refrain from stealing his intellectual property accusing him of stealing ideas for new songs in what could be the start of a legal battle.

 

Olamide, who records mostly in Yoruba, released his debut studio album Rapsodi in 2011 while signed to Coded Tunes and YBNL, his follow-up album, was released under his own label. On November 7 2013, he released his third studio album Baddest Guy Ever Liveth and since then has been growing as a national music icon.

 

However, Divine Austins, popularly known as Deevee, who is also D'banj's official producer, has accused Olamide of stealing ideas for his songs from his client. In three separate tweets, Deevee claimed that Olamide had been stealing concepts from D’banj’s recording outlet, DB Records, each time he visited the place.

 

Deevee added: “With due respect, have you run out of ideas? Every time you come to our zones, you always got to steal some idea. I won’t let this fly.”

 

He then went on to provide a link to Shake it, a song by D’banj and added that another song believed to have been lifted off an original idea by D’banj and his team is Olamide’s Don’t Stop. Olamide, who has just been named the hottest Nigerian artiste in 2015 by MTV Base, is yet to respond to the allegations.

 

Apparently, two songs recently released by Five Star Music and the star-studded Mavin Records, titled Ebeano and Jantamanta respectively, are the subjects of a controversy currently raging in the music industry. According to watchers of the industry, both songs are too similar in terms of the beats to be taken as coincidental.

 

It is speculated that one of the two music companies must have copied or stolen the original idea for the beat from the other. However, investigations showed that the beat actually originated from the boss of Mavin Records, Don Jazzy and it leaked to the wrong hands after he sent out snippets of it.

 

While the accusing finger has not been pointed at anyone, so far, the lack of reactions on both sides seems ominous. Pundits say the current controversies may be a sign of a rupture that is bound to come as many of the artistes appear to be contented with mutual but subtle copyright infringement.