Drake and Big Freedia are facing some legal troubles over the hit song “In My Feelings.”
A New Orleans musician has filed a lawsuit against Drake and Big Freedia claiming that the two stole his song and used it for the beat on “In My Feelings,” the triple-platinum song that took the internet by storm last year with a viral dance. According to TMZ, a man named Samuel Nicholas III, also known as Sam Skully, also claimed that Drake stole the beat for his 2018 song “Nice For What” as well.
The musician claims both songs sample a portion of his record “Roll Call” that was released in the year 2000, and that neither artist asked permission or paid him for the beat. The song was placed on a CD and distributed throughout NOLA nearly two decades ago, and Skully claimed he didn’t know it was stolen until “In My Feelings” began popping off the charts.
Skully is demanding damages from Asylum Records, Cash Money Records, and Republic Records.
“In My Feelings” was an accidental hit single off of Drake’s project Scorpion and became the hottest song of 2018 after social media comedian Shiggy sparked a viral dance challenge to accompany the track. The In My Feelings challenge spread so quickly that the Canadian rapper publicly thanked Shiggy for pushing the song to No. 1 and even included the viral star in his music video and some of his tour stops last year.
The song has a similar New Orleans bounce beat as “Nice For What,” the second single released before Scorpion dropped in June of last year. “In My Feelings” also samples a speech from Big Freedia and a track from City Girls, but the rap duo was not reportedly named in the lawsuit. TrapMoneyBenny, Blaqnmild produced the song, as well as Aubrey’s longtime friend Noah “40” Shebib.
