When musicians get accused of plagiarism, their artistry comes into question and everyone particularly social media users wade into the conversation about whether or not the music was purposely stolen.
Due to the complicated nature of copyright law, most cases are thrown out or settled out of court but at the end of the day, the best way to judge whether indeed those songs were plagiarized is for the listener to spot the similarities by themselves.
There have been tons of such cases in Ghana where artists are either accused of stealing beats or songs belonging to other international artists.
Presently, Becca has released her first single for the year dubbed, “No One” but comparing hers to that of Sho Madjozi’s ‘John Cena’ one could spot major similarities.
She is currently under attack for sampling the popular song including the beat but what isn’t clear is whether Becca sought the permission of the South African artist or not.
Becca isn’t the only artist to have experienced this as several other Ghanaian musicians have also been in the hot seat for copyright infringements.
These Ghanaian musicians have been called out for stealing other people’s songs or beats.
Shatta Wale
Shatta Wale announced that he has recorded a song with Jamaican artiste Vybz Kartel titled “Mansa Musa Money”. Few days after, a Nigerian artist called Danlil is accusing the dancehall artist of stealing his yet to be released song. According to Danlil, the song title and the cover art were all copied from his unreleased song stating they were both done in November 2019 and even shared a picture to back his claim.
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. The Ghanaian rapper was swift enough to have acknowledged Ivan Duran for the song.
Kuami Eugene
He was accused of stealing lyrics for his hit song ‘Confusion’ from a Malian musician and also for stealing the lyrics for his ‘Wish Me Well ‘song from Nigerian rapper, Ice Prince. According to reports, the rap line “mu keka me ho nsem like I recorded with a stolen mic” was taken from Ice Prince’s In the Morning track which originally states “‘People will be dissing me like I record with a stolen mic”.
Asem
Asem released a Hip-Hop hit track titled “Show Something” in 2012 and it had massive airplay. Few weeks after that, a Ghanaian rapper based in Chicago, USA accused Asem of stealing his beat. According to the rapper, Purp’man, he used the beat for his” YU bore” song which he released before Asem released his.
Becca
A careful analysis of the two songs, Becca’s “No One” and Sho Madjozi’s “John Cena” points out some obvious similarities, including the beats.
Sho Madjozi’s “John Cena” song has garnered 12,147,083 views on YouTube after it was released in August 2019 but months later, Becca’s song which is somewhat an adaptation of Sho Madjozi’s popular song is out and actively promoted on all her social media platforms.
