Warning: Do not read if you are unprepared to have your worldview shaken to the core. Non-famous musical artist Phoenix Phenom and her songwriter Manfred Mohr are suing the Black Eyed Peas for allegedly ripping off Phenom’s song “Boom Dynamite” with their smash hit “Boom Boom Pow.” According to Phenom and Mohr’s lawyer, Ira Gould:
My clients submitted their copyrighted song “Boom Dynamite” to Interscope Records after Interscope had shown interest in some of their music, and the Black Eyed Peas later copied the song when they wrote “Boom Boom Pow.” A simple listening of the two songs will tell you that the songs are substantially similar, and that the hooks of the two songs are virtually identical in rhythm and lyrics.
If this is true it would, of course, have far-reaching consequences. For one, Chris Martin wouldn’t feel as bad for stealing “Viva La Vida” from three different people. Also, the validity of our highly prestigious Song of the Summer rankings, in which “Boom Boom Pow” placed third, would be called into question. Less importantly, this Sunday’s Grammys could become even less legitimate (“Boom Boom Pow” is up for Best Dance Recording and Best Short Form Video). But scariest of all: If the track really is a copy, Will.i.am would no longer be the musical genius who thought of saying the word “boom” twice and then the word “pow,” but instead just some guy who appropriated that idea from a previously existing song!
This is why it’s crucially important you listen to these two tracks and tell us — is Phoenix Phenom “so 2000 and late”? Or is Fergie not as “so 3008” as she claims?
“Boom Dynamite”
“Boom Boom Pow”
This link will help as well. Also, on an unrelated note, you know what’d be great? If the “boom goes the dynamite” guy sued Phoenix Phenom now.
Black Eyed Peas Sued For Copyright Infringement [HipHopWired]
