Afropop star and emPawa Africa founder Mr Eazi has accused Bad Bunny of copyright infringement over his Un Verano Sin Ti track “Enséñame a Bailar,” which he claims both samples and interpolates Joeboy’s 2021 song “Empty My Pocket.” Eazi claimed neither Joeboy nor the song’s producer, Dëra, received credit for their work, nor did Bad Bunny allegedly receive clearance from emPawa Africa, Joeboy’s record label and publisher. 

“The team at emPawa Africa have attempted to sort this issue amicably since May of last year with our mutual legal teams. But the intent of Rimas Music is clearly to blatantly appropriate young African creators’ work for their gain without attribution,” Mr Eazi said in a press release. “Afrobeats has become a global phenomenon, and everybody wants to sample a piece of it. Unfortunately, afrobeats artists, their producers and labels often have to pursue legal means to secure publishing and royalties after songs they originally created are co-opted without credit by other artists.”

Rimas Entertainment formally denied the accusations in a statement shared with Pitchfork. After being named alongside Bad Bunny in Mr Eazi’s public call-to-action, the label claims that it purchased the master track from record producer Lakizo Entertainment, listed as the track’s creator and owner in numerous public sources. Afterwards, emPawa allegedly contacted them claiming ownership of the master, but Rimas state they have “so far failed to provide proof of ownership.” Read their statement in full below.

There has been no lawsuit filed yet, but the publishing of “Enséñame a Bailar” has been placed in dispute. As a result, the track’s revenue will be placed on hold until the issue is resolved.

Mr Eazi and Bad Bunny previously collaborated on the song “Como Un Bebé” for J Balvin and Bad Bunny’s collaborative 2019 album Oasis. As for Bad Bunny’s solo work, Un Verano Sin Ti recently took home a Grammy for Best Música Urbana Album. In April, he will become the first Latin artist to ever headline Coachella.

Rimas Entertainment:

We are deeply concerned by the copyright infringement accusations made by Oluwatosin Oluwole Ajibade (Mr Eazi), the founder of emPawa Africa, on the track “Enséñame a Bailar.” We want to make it clear that at all times, Rimas Entertainment has acted properly and has followed standard industry protocols.

Before releasing the aforementioned song, Rimas purchased the master track from record producer Lakizo Entertainment, listed as the track’s creator and owner in numerous public sources. After the song’s release last year, emPawa contacted us, claiming ownership over the master. Our lawyers have had many communications with emPawa in an effort to resolve the ownership dispute between emPawa and Lakizo, but emPawa has so far failed to provide proof of ownership. Instead, emPawa has chosen only to send us a heavily redacted contract that did not confirm their claims and only served to raise more questions about the validity of their claims. Our numerous efforts to obtain the unredacted version of the agreement from emPawa have not been successful. It is entirely untrue that we have been unresponsive. Regarding the song’s composition, emPawa has also failed to forward documents to prove that they are authorized to act on the writer’s behalf.

We look forward to resolving this matter cordially and are waiting for emPawa to provide us with the necessary documents that validate their claims.