Black Eyed Thieves

Busted!  It appears will.i.am may not be such the genius after all.  The Black Eye Peas are up against two major lawsuits for copyright infringement stemming from allegedly stolen material on their quadruple-platinum certified album, The E.N.D.

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One song in question is 2009’s pop sensation, “Boom Boom Pow.”  Chicago artist Lattrice Batts who performs under the moniker  Pheonix Phenom and her producer/co-songwriter Manfred Mohr recently re-filed a law suit in a Los Angeles federal court, alleging the group directly stole the song and concept from their  track “Boom Dynamite.”  What’s even shadier is “Phoenix Phenom sent the song to Interscope Records, the Peas’s label, in the hopes of getting Fergie to perform on the track. Instead, Interscope turned them down, and the Black Eyed Peas came out with their chart-topped shortly after” (Huffington Post).

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In addition, songwriter Byran Pringle filed a lawsuit against the group, claiming they stole the hit “I Got A Feeling” from his song, “Take A Dive.”  If this is indeed the case, Pringle would indeed receive a large settlement, especially considering “I Got A Feeling” broke digital record sales last year, by selling over 5.5 million copies.   Batts, Mohr, and Pringle are all represented by Dean A. Dickie of Miller Canfield (Chicago office), Ira Gould of Gould Law Group (Chicago), and George L. Hampton IV of HamptonHolley LLP (Orange County, CA).  In the legal filings, Dickie stated, “both Complaints allege that the Defendants UMG Recordings, Interscope Records and members of the Black Eyed Peas engaged in a pattern and practice of intentional copyright infringement with respect to the unlawful copying of songs of unknown or lesser-known artists.”  I don’t know if I’m thoroughly convinced that The Black Eyed Peas stole the songs from either, it could have been coincidental, but “Boom Dynamite” is to “Boom Boom Pow” in many ways.

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In other news, Billboard magazine officially gave Black Eyed Peas member Fergie the title of Woman of the Year 2010.  On receiving this title, Fergie told Billboard, “I am humbled and excited to accept the Billboard Woman of the Year Award.” Fergie will be on hand at Billboard’s Women in Music ceremony in New York on December 2nd to officially accept an award.  Am I the only one that thinks this prestige should to Nicki Minaj or even Lady Gaga?

If you are hating the Peas after reading this, check out their latest single, “The Time (The Dirty Bit),” which is a cover song, not a straight hijack.