Azealia Banks accuses RuPaul of plagiarizing her music in “Call Me Mother”
Banks said RuPaul's track was a "rip off" of her 2016 song "The Big Big Beat"
Rapper Azealia Banks has accused RuPaul of plagiarizing her song “The Big Big Beat” for the drag icon’s song “Call Me Mother.”
Banks claimed in a Twitter post that she was able to get Spotify to remove the RuPaul’s Drag Race host’s album American from the streaming service due to her claims of copyright infringement.
“Lol I got rupauls ripoff of the big big beat .. “call me mother” removed,” she tweeted. “You will not step on my little black girl toes bitch. You will take your razor bumps and pumps to the nearest laser hair removal clinic and seethe. @RuPaul BYE UGLY!”
Lol I got rupauls ripoff of the big big beat .. “call me mother” removed. You will not step on my little black girl toes bitch. You will take your razor bumps and pumps to the nearest laser hair removal clinic and seethe. @RuPaul BYE UGLY! 💁🏽
— CHEAPY XO (@cheapyxo) June 2, 2018
While the song did credit Banks as being sampled on the song, she claimed on Twitter that RuPaul’s team “did not properly license the sample.”
After a Twitter user pointed out that “Call Me Mother” and American were still available on iTunes, Banks said she was working on having it removed.
“It’s coming down VERY soon,” she tweeted. “Spotify agreed it is a rip off and Apple is still litigating. Bye ugly!”
As of writing, RuPaul’s American is available on Spotify — and other music services — though it was apparently unavailable at the time of Banks’ tweets.
Banks also claimed that RuPaul has tried to reach out to her to discuss the issue.
“Lol now that I’m filing claims RuPaul wants to reach out,” Banks said. “But where was that energy when you were stealing my work and using me as inspiration for your campy ass television show? I’m disappointed in him first and foremost as a black person. He was supposed to have my back.”
She continued: “But he went with popular white gay sentiment and felt like I was disposable enough to steal from and discard. Fuck him.”
RuPaul has yet to publicly comment on Banks’ accusations.
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