Baton Rouge rapper Boosie Badazz says he’s proceeding with a lawsuit against fellow artiste Rod Wave, who he says has refused to pay him royalties for sampling his song “Long Journey.”
Earlier this month, Lil Boosie put Rod Wave and other rappers on blast for stealing his song and said he was reaching out to him to be paid royalties. Rod had sung over the track, including the lyrics written by Boosie, and included the same beat. Out of embarrassment, Rod Wave defended himself, saying he doesn’t steal and is willing to pull up with a bag on Boosie.
After Boosie’s claim, fans aired out Rod Wave over him stealing lyrics from many artists, including the likes of Tupac, whose most popular songs were sung over by him, Jay-Z, Drake, and many others. Rod Wave later reneged on his promise to Boosie, more likely after receiving legal advice as paying Boosie may open the door for other artists to claim royalties.
Boosie, however, updated fans on Thursday as he said that he has no choice but to take legal steps to get his money from Rod Wave.
“I don’t want the song fully; I want a percentage of it and still have publishing in it and still have writer’s credits. And I guess when he found out that he don’t want to give me nothing,” the rapper said.
He continued that he has contacted his lawyers to deal with the issue.
“Nobody contacted me, nobody gave me my publishing, nobody gave me my writer’s credit? How you clear it when you didn’t clear it with me? Now the CEO they calling me, ‘Boosie we gon put you in the publishing, we gon out you in the writer’s credits’. Too late, it’s too late now,” he added.
The artist also said Rod Wave’s team made promises but failed to deliver. Additionally, he also claims that Rod Wave has sampled more songs from his catalog, but he is only going after “Long Journey” for now.
“He coulda pulled up on me and got me out the business. Imma get mine regardless. When everybody get their paperwork, I think we will come to a decision, it’s a clear-cut [decision]. We got the big dogs we calling now… they ain’t get my permission. I still own the publishing, They didn’t give me none of that now they saying, the song [is] already out, it’s too late. It’s probably 4/5 songs…Just because a n**ga take a line or two I ain’t really tripping over that.”
Boosie says he told Rod Wave to give him $200K for the songhttps://t.co/cZ5Sa4MRct pic.twitter.com/tTYMeADSgK
— Urban Islandz (@urbanislandz) December 1, 2023
Rod Wave has denied that he steals artists’ music and has instead said he is inspired by them. However, he uses the exact words and phrases from other artists. He has not responded to Boosie’s latest demand.
In the meantime, in a second video, Boosie said he asked Rod Wave to give him $200,000 and 25% of the record going forward, and he wouldn’t sue him.
“You already made money off my thing and you done made people choose sides in the industry, you done affected me in that way also,” Boosie told his fans. “This dude thought I was gonna tell him $2 million. I don’t own 100% of it bro, give me 200 grand bro.”
Boosie said that Rod Wave offered him $150,000, but he refused it because he had already paid his lawyer 30 gran in legal fees.
