J. Cole and Bryson Tiller are now facing an infringement lawsuit.
According to The Blast, the artists have been accused of stealing an instrumental created by G-Money. The producer claims Cole and Tiller ripped off his 2013 record "Shawty So Cold" for their respective cuts "Déjà Vu" and "Exchange." G-Money—legal name Gary Frisby—had made the accusations several years ago, and even uploaded a 2017 YouTube video in which he explained the similarities between the records in question.
G-Money's suit states Cole and Tiller's songs feature "the same kick pattern, snare pattern, FX swell, and vocal strike. The substantial similarities between the three songs are of no coincidence." Cole's "DejàVu" cut appeared on the 2016 album 4 Your Eyez Only; Tiller's "Exchange" landed on his 2015 debut studio album Trapsoul.
Per the lawsuit filed on Friday, G-Money is seeking $150,000 per infringement, as well as an injunction that would prevent Cole and Tiller from continuing to profit off his material. Sony, RCA Records, and Roc Nation are listed as co-defendants.
The producers of "Déjà Vu" and "Exchange" have also accused each other of stealing this particular beat. In 2016, Vinylz and Boi-1da—the men who produced "Déjà Vu"—accused Foreign Teck of ripping them off when he created "Exchange." Though Tiller's song was released months before Cole's record, Vinylz claimed he had sent a video of himself creating the beat to Teck.
"I sent this thief a video of me making the 'Déjà Vu' beat..a week later he post a beat on IG with the same drums. I made him take it down," Vinylz tweeted.
Teck denied the allegations on social media, insisting he made the beat "with nobody's help." He also mentioned G-Money's allegations: "I've had other people tried to sue me. I'm sure you saw that G-Money video," he said. "You can believe who the fuck you want to believe."
