Nicki Minaj and Mike WiLL Made-It are being sued over the 2014 Pinkprint cut “I Lied” by a producer who claims that the pair stole his beat.
According to a TMZ report on Monday (June 26), Atlanta-based producer Julius Johnson says the song’s beat is nearly identical to one he’d made years before “I Lied.” His lawsuit even draws a connection to how his music could have gotten into Mike WiLL or Nicki’s hands.
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Johnson’s song “onmysleeve” was published on YouTube in September 2011, and he says the beat was on a hard drive that got stolen from a studio session when he attended the Art Institute of Atlanta two years later. According to him, associates of Nicki Minaj and Mike WiLL were at the school “around the same time” – and he believes they somehow got their hands on the drive.
His lawsuit looks to get a cut of the profits they’ve already earned off the song, as well as for a judge to order them to stop using it – or at least give him credit.
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For Nicki’s part, a source close to her reportedly told the outlet, “Clearly Nicki is a lyricist, so the claim in terms of production will obviously have to be addressed by the applicable parties.”
The lawsuit arrives just days after Nicki Minaj was hit with a different suit, this one from a jewelry store accusing her of damaging the items they loaned her.
According to RadarOnline, photographs being used in court show several items that Minaj obtained from a West Hollywood outlet called Roseark. Among them is a diamond ring with two pieces missing.
A contract that solidifies the agreement between Minaj and the store even has the signature of her stylist, Brett Alan Nelson. An invoice shows that the transaction was “final” with “no refunds or exchanges.”
Roseark has alleged that Minaj and her team didn’t return 66 items on time, and when they finally got around to it, the delivered jewelry was defective. The “Super Bass” rapper was then sent a bill for $26,239.50 plus interest, which she allegedly still hasn’t paid.
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Regarding the ordeal, Minaj’s attorney, Jordan Siev, said: “We have not been presented with any evidence that any of the jewelry at issue was damaged by Nicki.”
He added: “This lawsuit appears to be nothing more than an ordinary insurance claim by the jeweler designed to generate publicity for itself and extract a payment to which it is not entitled. We will defend the lawsuit vigorously.”
