Afriyie of Ghanaian music group Wutah has disclosed how top-rated Nigerian musician, Burna Boy, sampled one of his songs without his consent.
Per the Wikipedia definition of sampling, it is ‘the reuse of a portion (or sample) of a sound recording in another recording. Samples may comprise elements such as rhythm, melody, speech, sounds or entire bars of music, and may be layered, equalized, sped up or slowed down, repitched, looped, or otherwise manipulated’.
So, in the view of Afriyie, the above is just what the ‘Last Last’ hitmaker did.
Speaking with Nana Romeo on Accra FM’s midmorning drivetime show, he mentioned that he was aware from the very moment Burna Boy released his ‘Common Person’ that it was his ‘Here To Stay’ that was sampled.
However, he got really convinced after another colleague in the music industry called Jack called to confirm the same.
Afriyie added that later some other people also called to confirm the same thing and stressed that what Burna Boy did could be likened to theft because he made a few changes.
“Some people are saying it’s creativity, while others are saying it’s theft. He also somehow changed the key, and he didn’t sing like me, but the sax and the flow…For some of my melodies, he played the guitar,” he said.
Asked if he had any plans to confront Burna Boy over this issue, he quickly said he was not going to do so because people will attack him and possibly tag him a hater of the ‘African Gaint’
Afriyie was quick to add that he was however happy that people who have musical ears have seen this and are talking about it.