Beyonce is being sued over a memorable sample used in her music video for “Formation.”
According to The New Orleans Advocate, Angel Barre — the sister of late New Orleans rapper and YouTube personality Messy Mya — is suing the star for copyright infringement. Mya’s voice features prominently in the beginning of Beyonce’s “Formation” video, set in New Orleans. Beyonce sampled Mya’s “Booking The Hoes From New Wildin” and “A 27 Piece Huh?” for the music video version of “Formation”, however, the sample does not appear on the album or in the hour-long special.
The lawsuit alleges that Beyonce used Mya’s “voice, performance and words from his copyrighted works to create the tone, mood, setting and location of the New Orleans-themed ‘Formation’ video and audio recordings.” Barré claims that Beyonce never cleared the samples and is seeking $20 million in damages as well as writer, composer, producer and performer credits on the song.
Mya — born Anthony Barre — was shot and killed while leaving the baby shower of his girlfriend in 2010. Listen to “Formation” up top and have a listen at the source material below:
Recently, Houston producer OG Ron C took Beyonce’s Lemonade and Solange’s A Seat At The Table and chopped-and-screwed them to pay homage to the sister’s Houston roots.
