Hungarian singer Mitsou (real name Mónika Juhász Miczura) is suing Jay Z and Beyoncé over illegal use of her voice on 2013 blockbuster single, “Drunk in Love.” Her lawsuit alleges that co-producer Timbaland lifted her vocals from a 19-year-old track called, “Bajba, Bajba Pelem,” and sampled it during the opening seconds of the hit song. She’s suing for damages, and wants 29 percent of the track’s songwriting credits.
Mitsou says the heisted sample is from a Roma folk song about hopelessness and is reportedly upset that “Drunk in Love” evokes “foreign eroticism alongside the sexually intense lyrics.”
The lawsuit also wants “Drunk in Love” permanently banned, which of course won’t happen. While the controversial song is not available online, Ando Drom (a folk group that Mitsou formerly fronted) does have a familiar tune called “Bajba Bajba.” Listen to them side-by-side for yourself.
Similarly, Jay Z had a similar copyright and sampling suit dismissed last week over the “ohs” from 2009’s “Run This Town.” The judge ruled that the controversial “ohs” (allegedly lifted from Eddie Bo’s “Hook and Slight — Part I” sans permission) had “essentially no quantitative significance to the original composition.”
Beyoncé and friends will be hoping for a similar verdict.
H/T Complex | Photo via Bruno Weler/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)