Now that the 2024 presidential election is over, it appears that rapper Plies, who was an adamant Vice President Kamala Harris supporter, is back to business.
The day after Harris’ devastating loss to her GOP presidential opponent Donald Trump, the “Hypnotized” artist filed a copyright infringement claim over his 2008 song, “Me & My Goons.”
Plies claimed on Wednesday, Nov. 6, that fellow rapper Soulja Boy sampled his song when recording the 2010 hit “Pretty Boy Swag,” according to TMZ.
The countdown beat and easily recognizable keyboard sequence of 16 beats (two 8 bar measures) is very present in Soulja Boy’s track and was never cleared, the lawsuit claims.
The unauthorized sample was later used in 2024 on GloRilla and Megan Thee Stallion’s hit song, “Wanna Be,” a track that currently has almost 91 million views on YouTube since its release seven months ago. The song also debuted in April 2024 at No. 11 on Billboard’s Hot 100 when it was released.
As a result of using the sample, they are also being sued for the use of that bit of his song.
Another femcee, Cardi B, was added to the claim by the Grammy winner, due to her guest feature on the “Wanna Be” remix that was released on Memorial Day, which rose to No. 15 in June 2024 on the same chart.
In addition to various individual artists, the lawsuit names various companies as defendants, including Meg’s Hot Girl Productions, Soulja’s former imprint Collipark Productions, and record labels Universal Music Group, Collective Music Group and Interscope Records.
Throughout the years, fans have made the connection to the overused sample in the songs, adding a few others.
It’s 4 classic club songs with the same beat 🧐
— CLUBGODZILLA (@BEATKINGKONG) April 5, 2024
1. Pretty Boy Swag by Soulja Boy
2. Me And My Goons by Plies
3. Dance Like A Stripper by M.E.
4. U Ain’t Bout Dat Life by Beatking
And now it’s a #5 “Wanna Be” by GloRilla and Megan 👌🏽
Ion wanna argue. Y’all don’t know sh*t.…
Meanwhile, Megan’s Grammy Award winning producer, LilJuMadeDaBeat, tells another story. He claims the beat actually originated from rapper Lil Wil’s 2006 track, “My Dougie,” which was engineered by another producer credited on “Wanna Be.”
“My Dougie came it in 2006, Me & My Goons came it in 2008. Big E the producer of “My Dougie” is credited on Wanna Be,” he wrote in a post on X.
“For the Record Pretty Boy Swag is a remake of My Dougie as well. Soulja Boy is on the My Dougie Remix. Me & My Goons literally not even the single for that Plies album,” Ju continued.
For the Record Pretty Boy Swag is a remake of My Dougie as well. Soulja Boy is on the My Dougie Remix. Me & My Goons literally not even the single for that Plies album
— Max Julian (@LilJuMadeDaBeat) November 7, 2024
It is not clear if those songs are listed in the lawsuit. It is also unknown what the Fort Myers, Florida, native, whose estimated net worth is $6 million, is asking for from each defendant.
During the summer, around the time the remix was bubbling on the radio and through various digital streaming platforms, Plies became one of the unofficial surrogates for the Harris-Walz campaign, stomping heavily on his social media for their agenda.
Sometimes he served as a bulldog for the ticket, saying the things to potential voters, Black and brown antagonists, and MAGA-maniacs that they could not say.
During Election Day, Plies proudly wore his “I Voted” sticker, giving props to his deceased grandmother for instilling in him the importance of voting and noting how proud she would be of him.
However, after waking up the next day to a Harris loss, he had a more somber tone online.
The “Bust It Baby Pt. 2” artist took on a big brother role to his fans on a video shared on Instagram, saying, “If I could hug each and every one of y’all who needed a hug, and let you put your head on my shoulder and let you get off what you needed to get off, God knows I would.”
“I wish I had something big enough so that I could invite whoever wanted to come … just to check on each other and make sure each other was good and everybody was holding up OK,” he added, before telling people to not give up hope and their beliefs about what’s right.
The rapper offered, “Just because the person that you felt should’ve won didn’t make it across the finish line, don’t for a second allow yourself to question your beliefs and what it is that you stand for. Just because the results didn’t go how you forseen them to go, doesn’t mean that you wrong.”
Many fans connected Plies’ disappointment in Harris’ loss to his seemingly out of the blue lawsuit. When The Jasmine Brand posted about the new claim, fans weighed in.
“Trump winning pissed him off everybody catching strays,” one person wrote.
Another agreed, “Why’d he wait until the day after Kamala lost the election to file this suit. Seems like their getting the brunt of his frustration.”
Someone else joked, “Plies must be in his feelings over this election cause why” as others laughed, “lol Kamala didn’t get in plies said I better get all my money now.”
Another person said this isn’t personal or political, writing, “Pay that man and go out for drinks later!”
The fan then added, “He just wants what is his.”
