Kendrick Lamar and Weeknd Accused of Stealing
Kendrick Lamar and The Weeknd are getting sued over alleged plagiarism in their “Black Panther” sound collaboration, “Pray for me”. The artists are being accused of lifting work from Brooklyn Rock band, Yeasayer.
A distinct chorus from Yeasayer’s 2007 track “Sunrise” was lifted and tweaked to fit “Pray for me”. Kendrick seemingly modified the recording with ill intent to conceal the infringement and used it 8 times in their “Pray for me” track . The stolen snippet is described to compromise a lot of male voices with animated pulsing vibrato.
The band which broke up in December is seeking undisclosed damages for the copyright infringement by Kendrick Lamar and The Weekend. They have also asked to restrict the sales of the song which hasn’t been out into action yet.
Yeasayer’s lawsuit said that they are informed and believe that their song has been used in “Pray for me” , and hence allege that Kendrick and The Weeknd have modified the portion they copied from ‘Sunrise’ with the intent to conceal the infringement”. Despite the processing,the artists’ use of Yeasayer’s song , “Pray for me” still retains its inherent composition and can be recognized as their song “Sunrise”.
The “Pray for me” track from “Black Panther” had given Kendrick and The Weeknd a bountiful success upon its release in 2018. It bagged a lot of awards in that year including the Juno Award for single of the year. The song makes an appearance in the black panther movie when the protagonist along with Nakia and Okoye enter a secret casino in Busan. Well we think it’s time to say a prayer for Kendrick and The Weekend!