Music Biz Vet Says Cardi B’s Producers Hijacked His Beat For “Be Careful” (Exclusive)
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Derrick Price Says Cardi B’s Producers Plagiarized His Beat For Song “ Be Careful”
A music industry veteran has accused Cardi B’s producers of stealing his beat for her hit song “Be Careful,” and now he’s demanding his share of the profits.
Derrick Price, the owner of music production company IHip Hop Music, said Cardi B’s producers Boi-1da – who was born Matthew Samuels, Vinylz, aka Anderson Fernandez and Adam Feeney, aka Frank Dukes, jacked his beat, slowed it down, and gave it to Cardi to record.
“I want my publishing, and I want my credit,” Price, who produced Trey Songz and Nicki Minaj’s song “Bottoms Up” and owned several record stores around Washington, D.C. “I’m pretty sure Cardi B’s a good person, but this is business, and no one is taking anything from me and my family.”
Boi-1da, Frank Dukes and Vinylz are listed as the song’s producers, but Price said he owns the copyright and challenged them to prove that they actually conceptualized the beat themselves.
“Show me the original file,” Price said. “Show me the mix session, show me the engineers files on the day you mixed it.”
Price said in-house producers from IHip Hop Music made the beat which was originally titled VTWICE Beat CMG Mike” back in 2016. He said he played the beat for Boi-1da during a meeting later that year, and Boi-1da asked for an MP3 of a portion of the song. Price complied, and he said he had no more contact with him – until a member of Price’s production team sent him the “Be Careful” song.
“When he sent me everything – I was like ‘Woah!'” Price said. “They can’t do that.”
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(Photo by Steven Ferdman/WireImage)
Price said he’s tried to reason with the producers, but they’ve been uncooperative and one lawyer threatened to sue him for slander. Indeed, Price showed BOSSIP a cease and desist letter between his legal team and Atlantic Records, warning the label that it faced litigation unless it immediately stopped using “Be Careful” and turned over financial records so they could assess money damages.
Price also showed BOSSIP a music analysis from expert Dr. Ronald Sadoff that says the songs are identical.
Price is now mulling a federal lawsuit against the producers, Atlantic Records and Cardi B. We’ve reached out to Boi-1da and Vinylz’s lawyer for comment.
The producer said he is still willing to come to the bargaining table with the label and the producers – but at some point, the gloves would come off.
“I’m ready to go to war,” Price said. “Nobody is taking nothing – zero from me.”
Check out “Be Careful” and Price’s beat, “VTWICE” on the previous page – do you hear any similarities?
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