Yung Bleu and Boosie Badazz are facing a lawsuit from an artist who claims to have provided the building blocks for Bleu’s career.
According to documents obtained by TMZ on Thursday, a producer named Ice Starr claims Bleu has been using his instrumental work “without his knowledge, authorization, and without any compensation whatsoever” since 2017. In fact, he alleges a couple of Bleu’s biggest songs, “Miss It” and “Ice on My Baby,” feature his unauthorized production. The former is his No. 3 most popular track on Spotify with 30.1 million streams; the latter has 8.4 million plus an additional 16.5 million via the Kevin Gates-featuring remix.
Boosie has been roped into this because Bleu is signed to his Bad Azz Music Syndicate label. Ice Starr claims Boosie had him sign an invalid agreement that gives away his rights to “Miss It.” Yet the allegedly flawed deal was crafted after “Miss It” was already released without his knowledge. Ice Starr believes this was done so Young Bleu could continue profiting off other unauthorized instrumentals.
Bleu shared a response with the Shade Room, saying “[Ice] got paid for all the beats he did on that project. We were on the come up together. He was an unknown producer. The songs just happened to blow up after he sold his rights… He sold his rights to my manager, Taquari (Boosie’s brother), for $1,500. He didn’t know it was gonna blow up.”
Ice Starr is suing Boosie and Yung Bleu for copyright infringement. He’s seeking an unspecified portion of the songs’ profits as well as future royalties.
Bleu is one of hip-hop’s bubbling artists. He made his mark in the mainstream with his hit single “You’re Mine Still” (which isn’t mentioned in Ice Starr’s lawsuit). This track sparked the interest of the 6 God himself, Drake, who appeared on the remix. But none of this would’ve been possible if DeMarcus Cousins didn’t put his fellow Alabama native in the position to make a play.
Complex has reached out to a rep for Yung Bleu for further comment.
