Music

Erykah Badu accuses Black Eyed Peas of video ripoff

by Dan MacRae

Does the new Black Eyed Peas video look a tad familiar to you? Or maybe remarkably familiar? Erykah Badu thinks it does and we think she has a pretty solid case.

To mark their 20th anniversary, will.i.am., Taboo, and apl.de.ap decided to celebrate with something a touch fancier than a night out at Olive Garden. The BEP dropped a new music video that musically and visually pays homage to hip-hop heroes like Public Enemy, Digable Planets, and the Wu-Tang Clan, to name a few. The Fergie-free track ends with the group proclaiming they’re taking you to the future.

It wasn’t all that long into “the future” that Erykah Badu pointed out that the concept for “Yesterday” was awfully similar to the one she employed in her video for “Honey.” Both videos feature the artist popping up on recognizable records that have been flipped through at the shop.

Badu’s video came out in 2008 and this tweet dropped just a few days back.

By the way, Badu has a strong record of giving credit to things that have sparked her imagination. She was happy to acknowledge that Matt & Kim’s “Lessons Learned” promo helped inspire her controversial and amazing “Window Seat” video. Heck, an “INSPIRED BY MATT & KIM” credit pops up at the very beginning of the clip.