Music

Did The Black Eyed Peas rip off Deadmau5?

by Anne T. Donahue

No strangers to accusations of plagiarism, the Black Eyed Peas have been called out yet again of “borrowing” tracks from a noteable source, but this time, they’re not dealing with a Texas songwriter, they’re dealing with Deadmau5. However, comparisons aside, Deadmau5 makes it very clear he isn’t “calling out the Black Eyes Peas at all”, and that he “enjoys that minimal bit of a tune” despite “the remake vocals [that] can f*ck off and die”.

Following a post on his Facebook page, the Canadian artist has broken down the alleged copied sample in question, comparing the transient patterns between his remix of “You and I” to the Peas’ latest single, “The Time”. And through the magic of science, it looks like they match.

“yup! i so know that highat… and the pattern it was in… so i went to my masters folder, cracked open my instrumental mix of “You and i” remix thing i did for Medina… and there it was again, starring me in the face… so i coupled up the waveforms.. which was pretty easy, since theyre both exactly 128 BPM… and had a look… from what i could gather, looks like the loop was layered on top of a tiny bit (on the snare end) and the “loop” was compressed (which woulda made it doubly compressed in this case) the phases in the kick drum lined up.. which isnt the most rare occurance in the world of “the same fuckin kick over and over and over again”… but enough to give it a closer look for sure. Then that similar reversed highat at the end of every 2nd bar was there again.”

Proof that BEP have struck again? You be the judge. Listen to the Deadmau5 remix here and check out ‘The Time below.