Lil Nas Refutes Stealing Sound for Latest Single ‘Rodeo’; Files to get Lawsuit Dismissed

By Prince Hakeem 

With hip-hop in a state where most of it’s sound and production sounds the same, it almost expected that different  acts will artistically step on one another’s toes. Today’s hit songs full of samples and packaged loops. Back in the day, what was seen as a no-no when different artists have similar beats is now become more common place. The latest artist to embody this trend is recent two time Grammy award winner Lil Nas X.

He’s being accused of biting the beat he used for latest hit record, “Rodeo”. X is being sued by producers Brandon Lee (Don Lee) and Glen Keith DeMeritt III for alleged copyright infringement. Accroding to the producers, they originally composed the beat for a song called  “gwenXdonlee4-142”. They later streamlined it into another song entitled, “Broad Day,” by PuertoReefa & Sakrite Duexe. They argue in their lawsuit that Lil Nas X’s “Rodeo” record shares a similar tempo, musical elements, and chord progressions to theirs.

In response, Lil Nas X is now attempting to get the New York federal court to dismiss the lawsuit. He and legal team claim that they were unaware of Lee’s composition. Rodeo was independently composed and there wasn’t intent to steal from another artist.

Hi statement reads:

“The work, Rodeo, was created independently from and without knowledge of the allegedly infringed work. The musical elements from ‘gwenXdonlee4-142’ supposedly used in Rodeo are neither original to Plaintiffs nor copyrightable subject matter.”

Hopefully this can get resolved amicably.