‘Dreamgirls’ star Jamie Foxx has been accused of stealing a DJ Mustard instrumental from a lesser known artist today, landing him in hot legal water before the release of his new LP.
Details on the case below…
On Thursday, Nontra Records filed a lawsuit against Mustard, rapper 2 Chainz and Foxx, claiming that their new single ‘Party Ain’t a Party’ uses an instrumental that had been given to an artist named J.Rand.
According to Nontra, Rand had been given the beat by Mustard during his time at Poe Boy Records, who “possessed sole ownership in the copyright of the sound recording.”
Now, after welcoming Rand to their label, they claim that they acquired all rights to the instrumental when they bought out his contract from Poe, claiming they paid for the mixing and mastering of the song which features said instrumental.
Billboard Biz adds:
As promotion, California radio stations began premiering J Rand’s “upcoming DJ Mustard-produced single” last November, but Nontra says it failed to reach DJ Mustard on the promotional campaign. He “went radio silent and failed to respond to their advances,” says the lawsuit.
Then, Foxx’s song came out, with credited instrumentals to DJ Mustard, which the plaintiff notes as being substantially similar to J Rand’s work. Not just the instrumental, but the words too.
“Specifically, the underlying material and Jaime Foxx’s lyrics contained in the Subsequent Work are identical to the lyrics sung by J Rand in the sound recording of the Original Work,” states the lawsuit.
Nontra alleges that the “only discernible difference” between the two recordings is the use of 2 Chainz as a guest artist.
The plaintiff is demanding at least $150,000 from the defendants for copyright infringement. The lawsuit also carries a claim of contributory copyright infringement against Fox for allegedly distributing the work widely.
“DJ Mustard did not grant any rights to a third party to exploit the recording, “Party Ain’t A Party, ” and, accordingly, this claim against DJ Mustard has absolutely no merit,” a legal representative for DJ Mustard said in a statement.
Below are both songs and the complaint.