A group of Christian rappers are suing Katy Perry for plagiarism over her song “Dark Horse,” saying her version has corrupted theirs with “black magic and Illuminati imagery.”
The lawsuit was filed by a group of Christian rappers in Missouri, who say they only recently became aware of the song’s similarity to their song “Joyful Noise.” Via The Guardian:
The suit was filed in St Louis, Missouri, by Flame, born Marcus Gray, and Chike Ojukwu, both of St Louis, as well as two others – Lecrae Moore and Emanuel Lamber. Flame was made aware of the similarity by his DJ, Cho’zyn Boy, who had noticed tweets to Flame about the Katy Perry song.
According to an post on Rapzilla, Flame didn’t become of aware of the issue until fans brought it to his attention.
Driving from a concert, Flame’s DJ, Cho’zyn Boy, noticed an “influx” of tweets to Flame and Lecrae asking them about the new Katy Perry song. Flame doesn’t listen to Katy Perry, so he had no idea why his opinion of her music mattered. Cho’zyn Boy searched for and listened to the song out of curiosity, which turned into shock.
Here’s a breakdown of the side-by-side comparison Cho’zyn Boy made (listen below), via Rapzilla:
0:00-0:25 Joyful Noise (original song)0:25-0:40 Dark Horse (original song)
0:40-0:53 Speeds up tempo from 66 BPM to 76 BPM
0:53-1:07 Takes pitch down one decimal from Db to C
1:07-1:17 Mixes in Joyful Noise
1:17-1:23 Side-by-side, both at 72 BPM
1:23-1:30 Joyful Noise by itself
1:30-1:48 Dark Horse by itself
The lawsuit states the rappers are “irreparably tarnished by its association with the witchcraft, paganism, black magic and Illuminati imagery evoked by the same music in Dark Horse.” It’s not the first time “Dark Horse” has been the center of controversy; last year, Perry was accused of bigotry against Muslims over the song’s video.