Lizzo is facing a plagiarism claim over her hit Truth Hurts.
Los Angeles songwriters Justin and Jeremiah Raisen claim they were part of an early writing session with the singer.
The Raisen brothers claim they produced the line: “I just took a DNA test, turns out I’m 100 per cent that b—h,” which features in the song.
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Justin took to Instagram on Tuesday and claimed that his brother Jeremiah, Lizzo, Jesse Saint John and Yves Rothman wrote a song titled Healthy in April 2017 that used the exact same line.
“On April 11th, 2017, we wrote a song called Healthy w/ Lizzo, Jesse St John, and Yves Rothman at our studio. ‘I just took a DNA test turns out I’m 100 per cent that b—h’ was taken from Healthy and used in Truth Hurts,” Justin’s post read.
Justin said that they “were never contacted about being credited for the use of the parts of Healthy (melody, lyrics, and chords) that appear in Truth Hurts.”
His post continued: “After reaching out to Ricky Reed and Lizzo’s team about fixing it, we put the song in dispute in 2017 when it came out. We’ve tried to sort this out quietly for the last two years, only asking for 5 per cent each but were shut down every time.”
Justin said “coming forward publicly” is “the only way at this point in relieving some of our emotional distress caused by this.”
“The last thing we want to do is throw any negativity toward Lizzo’s momentum and movement as a cultural figure,” he continued. “If we believe in what she’s preaching, believing in ourselves & our own voices is something we thought she’d understand.”
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Justin also shouted out a singer named Mina Lioness, who he said tweeted the line in question, adding that a meme of the line was later brought up in their writing session for Healthy.
“If Ricky and Lizzo’s team decide to settle this dispute with us, we would like to share some of the proceeds with Mina for her influence on Healthy.”
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The official credits for Truth Hurts list Lizzo, Ricky Reed, Tele and Jesse Saint John.
Cynthia S. Arato, a lawyer for Lizzo, denied the Raisen brothers’ claim in a statement to the New York Times.
“The Raisens are not writers of Truth Hurts,” Arato said. “They did not collaborate with Lizzo or anyone else to create this song, and they did not help write any of the material that they now seek profit from, which is why they expressly renounced any claim to the work, in writing, months ago.”
Lizzo and Lioness publicly discussed the issue of the line in August.
“What I cannot get over is how brazen Lizzo and her team have been in ignoring my whole presence. They’re doing it because they know I have no capital to address her. I’m just the poor Black girl from London that don’t have a dog in the fight,” Lioness tweeted at the time.
“All these Black Women in the industry that have been ripped off and stolen from… and Lizzo sat back and let her co-writer steal from me?” Lioness tweeted.
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In February 2018, Lizzo tweeted that she’d “never seen this before in my life” in regards to Lioness’ original tweet using the “DNA test” line in February 2017.
https://twitter.com/lizzo/status/962041970301403137
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