Kendrick Lamar is facing a lawsuit over his Rihanna collaboration “Loyalty” from 2017’s DAMN. album. According to documents obtained by Music Business Worldwide, a musician named Terrance Hayes claims K. Dot’s song heavily lifted elements from a Hayes recording also called “Loyalty.”
The suit accuses producer Terrace Martin of having access to Hayes’ version of “Loyalty” through Josef Leimberg. Although Leimburg isn’t credited as one of the artists behind Lamar’s “Loyalty,” he is a collaborator of Martin and has contributed to K. Dot’s music before. Martin, Leimberg and Top Dawg Entertainment are listed as defendants in the suit.
Hayes says he created his song “Loyalty” with Leimberg at Ironworx Creative Recordings studio and registered it with the United States Copyright Office in 2011. But he notes his recordings were stored on Leimberg’s computer, which is how he’s accused Martin of stealing from his work.
“Plaintiff believes and herein alleges that Martin had access to the Subject Track through Leimberg, who was his close music collaborator,” the suit reads. “Subsequently Martin and Doe Defendants copied the entire composition, including title, melody, harmony and rhythm from the Subject Track into the Infringing Song, and slowed it down through a synthesizer and combined it with another sample to disguise the copying.”
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Despite the alleged use of several portions of Hayes’ “Loyalty,” he contends no one sought to obtain his permission or offer him compensation. He is seeking all profits from Lamar’s “Loyalty,” whatever amount of losses he incurred and “any other monetary advantage gained by the Defendants through their infringement.”
Hayes hasn’t specified the exact number in terms of compensation, but he aims to prove the sum at a trial. View the entire lawsuit via Music Business Worldwide here.
Revisit K. Dot and Rihanna’s “Loyalty” music video below.
Kendrick Lamar i cant believe this !!
its likely kendrick knows nothing about this…he just hopped on the song. if anything this is on the producer….its a bit hard to believe because terrace martin is a excellent musician…he doesnt have to steal anybody’s stuff.
All I know is I’m still waiting on Kendrick to come for everyone like he said he would on control – we still waiting bruh
You didn’t get the point of Control. He called them out to raise the bar higher in hip hop in 2013. True, he did say he was trying to murder them, but it wasn’t to end their careers, it was to tell them to step their game up and bring some competition. He’s not going to destroy their careers for no reason.
First he steals from Lupe, now this. Dude can’t stop.
take them to the fucking cleaners. the day when we have everyone copying off everyone else is when creativity of the art dies.
This 100% on the producer. Notice it only talks about the instruments not the vocals