Did DJ Mustard produce a number of the hits he’s taken credit for?
Well, let a former friend of the artist tell it and the answer is simply…no.
A surprising story below…
After joining the singer Tinashe to celebrate the success of their hit single ‘2 On’, Mustard learned than an old friend, Mike Free, had filed a lawsuit against in the December of 2014.
His problem? The credit he claims Mustard took for eight songs he claims to have co-produced, accusing the ‘Rack City’ architect of failing to commit to an oral agreement they came to before his meteoric rise to fame.
Mike’s story begins in 2011. Back then, he was a high school student who began producing tracks he says Mustard took a liking to.
In an interview with ‘Complex’ and the aforementioned lawsuit, he says the producer claimed to place the tracks with artists he was beginning to work with, promising to make sure the teen was given credit for his work.
Alas, Mike now says things took a turn for the worst when Mustard placed the cuts but failed to acknowledge the part he played in creating them, going on to claim that he had produced them himself.
A year would pass before the pair would reach a new agreement in which Mike stipulated his share of fees, advances and royalties from bops he built for the ‘L.A Love’ producer.
Unfortunately, Mike now says Mustard breached that contract and terminated it via text message, and now claims that he is responsible for 20 (and not eight) of the songs Mustard has sold to artists as his own.
Mike’s lawyer,intellectual property attorney Robert Allen, shares:
Mike is a real class guy. All he’s looking for is to be properly credited and paid for the things that he did. He doesn’t have any ill will toward Mustard. No bad blood. It’s just about the work that he did in creating these songs, and the masters, and being properly credited and compensated.
Though Allen does not have an estimate for how much Free is owed in total, he claims a percentage that roughly breaks down to 25 percent of musical compositions he co-created with Mustard and 20 percent of songs containing a sample (such as “24 Hours,” which samples YG’s “I’m Good”). “My Nigga” and “Show Me,” both of which Free asserts he wrote the whole musical composition, entitling him to the entire share attributable to the creator of the music, minus the samples (in this case, 40 percent).
Click here to read telling documents surrounding the case.
#BeyInspired
Kiiii you beat me to it
Haha remember when your fave got braids and then someone got inspired?
Totally unrelated but Keri sung her a** off on that song The One I Love off SV2. It just randomly popped up in my playlist at work.
Yasss Matt I remember kiii
I see the QUEEN stays on your mind! #Carryon
kii but your face is #PlasticSurgeonInspired
Said the #PovertyModel
Kii I was gonna say sounds like Beyoncé
Remember when michael jackson became white?
#BeyInspired
remember when you got your face changed from white to asian? #plasticsurgeoninspired
DEATH!!!!!
Yass. #BeyInspired
#BeyInspired
Lol I just looove when other artists get sued for stealing songs. It just invalidates what the haters say about Bey stealing samples.
Yup 🙂 it just comes to show that nobody in the music Biz is original. Not Bey, Not Rih, not Ciara not Pharrel, not Robin Thicke, Not Madonna. They all “borrow” from others. And it’s been going on for years! #CarryOn #BeyInspired
Yea, in the day in age / generation you’re probably right.
Hahaaa! #BeyInspired
#BeyInspired
lol @ this #beyinspired crap…she ain’t the first to do it and she ain’t the last! but what does this have to with her? anyways that guy Mike seems to be pretty young from what i read and he was taken advantage of by Mustard….the music industry is a “dog eat dog” world people would cut each other throat to get on top smh
If this is the case Then Mike needs a cut of every Mustard song, bc all of his songs sound EXACTLY alike.
Yasss at the two pressed Titanics racing in here to throw so wack shade after getting scalped in the Rihfund post!
Omg after while they going to make sampling illegal I wonder how many producer will come up if they did that the music industry is no joke but also ppl always blame the artist the producer the one make even though they sang on it they find any way to make money even if they stole u know they ain’t going to tell the artist then that make the artist look bad as well
Speaking from personal experience… It’s a fine line.
However, I’m pretty sure 8 songs with the same 3 notes should be up for public domain~
Lol too funny
Dj mustard song sound the same no matter what
Dead @ #BeyInspired