Wiz Khalifa Sued by Georgia Rapper for Copyright Infringement Over ‘Most of Us’
Wiz Khalifa is facing a new lawsuit over his 'Khalifa' track "Most of Us" by a Georgia rapper alleging his 2010 song with the same name was ripped off due to similarities between the phrasing on the…
Wiz Khalifa is facing a new lawsuit over his Khalifa track “Most of Us” by a Georgia rapper alleging his 2010 song with the same name was ripped off due to similarities between the phrasing on the two songs.
Dustin Bennett — who raps under the moniker Cymple Man — claims Khalifa had access to his song when the two artists allegedly met in 2012 at the Salt Lake City International Airport in Utah and Bennett gave him two demo copies of his first album, entitled Cymple Man. The Self-Titled Debut. According to the suit, Bennett was traveling to Idaho to perform a concert, while at the same time Khalifa had just landed to perform at the University of Utah that night. The two never had contact again following.
While the songs are significantly different in their production, they do bear similarity in their lyrics. Both Khalifa and Bennett follow a similar phrasing structure throughout, starting each stanza with the phrase “most of us” as a means to describe how they perceive their own lives and those of others (while Bennett’s is focused on scrutinizing the American status quo, Khalifa mostly reps his Taylor Gang crew and his rise to the top while staying hard). And though “most of us” is a common phrase, the Bennett’s argument focuses in on the resemblance of how it is used both songs.
Claims the suit: “Khalifa structured his song with the same lyrical and musical theme as Bennett by using the key phrase ‘most of us’ as his introduction to the subject of each verse, which is an attitude or lifestyle choice made by the same groups of people he references. Moreover, Khalifa utilizes the term “most of us” to introduce the audience to the same theme of sinful behavior with the same expression.
“Khalifa’s use of the words ‘most of us’ in that manner is not a common usage or ubiquitous in the structure of other musical compositions, but rather, it is distinctively original to Bennett’s Work.”
The Khalifa album on which the track appears was a digital-only compilation of mostly older, unreleased songs that were recorded for his previous albums. It was released Feb. 5, 2016, on Atlantic Records and Rostrum Records and debuted at No. 6 on the Billboard 200 chart, reaching No. 3 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.
Bennett claims Khalifa and the labels have ignored his previous requests to credit and compensate him for the song.
Reps for Khalifa and Atlantic could not be reached for comment.
Listen to both songs here:
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