UPDATE:Â You thought the Azealia Banks / RuPaul drama was all played out? Think again.
Azealia Banks has cried foul on RuPaulâs song, âCall Me Mother,â off his album, American, claiming the beat was ripped off from her 2016 single, âThe Big Big Beat.â
Spotifyâs policy dictates that any piece of music under copyright investigation be removed from the platform, so the album was reportedly taken down over the weekend.
It has since been restored, so if Pride season has you in the mood to grab a fan and start thwoorping to Ruâs latest tracks, have at it.
But weâre burying the lede.
In a series of tweets, Banks did not hold back:
âLol I got rupauls ripoff of the big big beat .. âcall me motherâ removed,â she wrote. âYou will not step on my little black girl toes bitch. You will take your razor bumps and pumps to the nearest laser hair removal clinic and seethe. @RuPaul BYE UGLY.â
She also said Ru reached out to her after the conflict came to light: âWhere was that energy when you were stealing my work and using me as inspiration for your campy ass television show?
âIâm disappointed in him first and foremost as a black person. He was supposed to have my back ⌠But he went with popular white gay sentiment and felt like I was disposable enough to steal from and discard. Fuck him.â
Read the tweets below:
Lol I got rupauls ripoff of the big big beat .. âcall me motherâ removed. You will not step on my little black girl toes bitch. You will take your razor bumps and pumps to the nearest laser hair removal clinic and seethe. @RuPaul BYE UGLY! ??
â CHEAPY XO (@cheapyxo) June 2, 2018
Happy Pride!
â CHEAPY XO (@cheapyxo) June 2, 2018
Lol now that Iâm filing claims RuPaul wants to reach out. But where was that energy when you were stealing my work and using me as inspiration for your campy ass television show? Iâm disappointed in him first and foremost as a black person. He was supposed to have my back
â CHEAPY XO (@cheapyxo) June 2, 2018
But he went with popular white gay sentiment and felt like I was disposable enough to steal from and discard. Fuck him
â CHEAPY XO (@cheapyxo) June 2, 2018
Reaction to Banksâ comments is mixed, with many people clearly taking issue with how sheâs delivering her message.
But does she have a point?
Listen to the two songs back-to-back below:
Banks later addressed the story, disputing the âfeudâ narrative:
A feud? Lol the public is so obsessed with this idea of me being a villain.. they pretend to sigh and roll their eyes but they tune into everything I say with the type of excitement which makes them exaggerate and sensationalize it for themselves. https://t.co/cBe7SUJboU
â CHEAPY XO (@cheapyxo) June 4, 2018
UPDATE:Â You thought the Azealia Banks / RuPaul drama was all played out? Think again.
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DarkZephyr
It does sound kind of similar, but don’t rap songs heavily sample one another rather routinely?
Donston
It wasn’t merely “sampled”. The entire music track was taken and the rap style was aped. When the track is used for profit it becomes copyright infringment. Of course, as per usual, Azealia took the crass route and took the conversation into places it didn’t need to go. But she had every right to have it taken down.
DarkZephyr
I said “heavily sample”. This is simply not the first time I have ever heard sampling to this extent.
DCguy
1. I seriously doubt Rupaul writes the music, so the issue is with the writers/producers.
2. She has said multiple bigoted things against lgbt people, so the fact that she is specifically targeting RuPaul in a personal fashion seems intentional.
Donston
She’ll target anyone and get as low-blow-y as possible. That’s just who she is. However, about half of her rants have some truth to them despite the angry delivery. She clearly has “issues”. I do like a significant amount of her music.
Xzamilloh
I’m not gonna lie… as soon as I heard “Call Me Mother”, I immediately thought of “The Big Big Beat.” Azealia Banks is toxic as all hell and the cause of her own destruction, but that song goes hard.
They are similar in composition, but it’s a reach to say Mother is a ripoff of “Big Big Beat.”
Xzamilloh
Of course she has barely any room to talk, considering she sampled Biggie Smalls in “The Big Big Beat” without permission.
Umoja
I nearly fell out of my chair, the songs begin nearly identically. I had heard Ru Paul’s version first via the show – but once Azealia starts rapping there is no way on Earth Ru Paul’s track was forged in isolation.
Josh in OR
So…is Weird Al Yankovic a rip off artist, too? Because frankly, I put Ru – and I LOVE Ru – in the same category of fluff. Both are fun, both are hilarious, both have charisma, uniqueness, nerve and talent, but both tend to make songs that sound like other somgs, deliberately. I dunno, maybe I’m just stupid, or maybe ai think that the majority of copyright law is bullshit, so…
alanballs
We used that beat in high school marching band…and that was XXXX years ago!
Over the centuries, many beats, chord progressions, melodies, harmonies, phrases, choruses have sounded SIMILAR.
Appears to me that bee-otch is just going after RU for the publicity.
btd
Agreed!
MonkeyMan
The similarities are too many and Azealia is genuinely on to something for once. RuPaul’s “Mother” even copied the opening lyrics “Guess who up in this bitch” and just changed it to “Guess who back in the house” and the rhythmical phrasing and tone of the vocal melody are almost a complete match. Basically Ru took Azealia’s song from alternative-ish house rap to radio-friendly house pop.
Azealia of course goes way too far in her Tweets but Ru did copy her song.
DCguy
That’s the problem, she’s her own worst enemy. File a lawsuit, tweet about that on Twitter, and go from there. But she makes it look like she and RuPaul are in a catfight.
Donston
I thought Ru’s song had been out for quite a while and Banks hadn’t said anything. So, the issue wasn’t the copying but that Ru tried to turn a profit off the song without paying up.
btd
And the winner is? DRAMA!
The only thing missing are those familiar faces that look like melting designer handbags, hence: BRAVO’S HOUSEWIVES——- Well, some of them anyway…. đ
Rosemary
Maybe I’m older than the rest of ya’ll, but they both sound like “Baby got Back” to me.
somabass
Two words for Mz. Banks. An Expresso. How can she claim she was ripped off when her entire beat is a sample of An Expressoâs âI Wish A…â which includes a Biggie sample.
https://youtu. be/4bqs1qhYmpE