BEYONCÉ SUED FOR ALLEGED COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT OVER SAMPLE ON ‘BREAK MY SOUL’

Beyoncé, Jay-Z, Sony Music Entertainment and others are named as defendants in a lawsuit alleging copyright infringement over Beyonce’s 2022 hit Break My Soul.

A group of former musicians in New Orleans, who once performed as Da Showstoppaz, say Break My Soul infringed on the copyright of Release A Wiggle, a track they recorded and released independently in 2002.

Break My Soul includes a sample from Explode, a 2014 track by Big Freedia, a prominent artist in bounce music, a New Orleans-born subgenre of dance music.

In a complaint filed on Wednesday with the US District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, the four members of Da Showstoppaz allege that Big Freedia’s Explode copied the lyrical hook of their 2002 track, and that this hook also appeared on Break My Soul – and asserted that therefore both songs infringed on Da Showstoppaz’ copyright.

Da Showstoppaz’s contribution to the New Orleans bounce music scene and usage of the actual words, melody, and musical arrangement of the Release A Wiggle were deliberately taken by Big Freedia in the recording of Explode, which was subsequently heavily sampled by Mrs. Carter [Beyonce] in the master recording of Break My Soul,” states the complaint, which can be read in full here.

The crux of the case centers on the lyrics “release a wiggle” and/or “release ya wiggle,” which the complaint says appear on Big Freedia’s Explode and, by way of sampling, on Break My Soul.

“Prior to the writing and recording of Da Showstoppaz’ Release A Wiggle the phrases, “release a wiggle,” and “release ya wiggle” had never been recorded or published in any other song,” the complaint states.

The four members of Da Showstoppaz – Tessa Avie, Keva Bourgeois, Henri Braggs and Brian Clark – are seeking damages and royalties from sales of Break My Soul and Renaissance, as well as damages and compensation from the song’s use in Beyonce’s Renaissance Tour and the concert film Renaissance: A Film by Beyonce.

Notably, the complaint says that Da Showstoppaz didn’t take out a recording and publishing copyrights in Release A Wiggle until 2023, a year after the release of Break My Soul and nine years after the release of Big Freedia’s Explode.

The plaintiffs say they recorded the track in 2002 for a mixtape produced by Black House Entertainment, a startup label founded by Norris Revader, aka Big Steppa, and “no paperwork or contracts were ever signed or exchanged.”

They say the track became a hit in New Orleans nightclubs, and the mixtape on which it appeared “was disseminated from the trunks of cars by block party DJs and at nightclubs, or handed out to well-known disc-jockeys who played the music at bounce music venues during that time period.”