DJ Lag is laughing all the way to the bank after reaching an undisclosed settlement agreement with American musician and producer will.i.am over sampling one of his songs without his permission.
Real name Lwazi Gwala, the Gqom pioneer confirmed the news to Sowetan yesterday, just less than two months after Culture, by DJ Megan Ryte, featuring A$AP Ferg and will.i.am, caused a social media maelstrom over accusations of song theft.
DJ Lag last November told Sowetan that the beat for his 2016 song, Ice Drop, was used in Culture without his permission.
While many social media users initially blamed and attacked Ryte, will.i.am later clarified in a video clip that he was the one at fault for getting the “credit information wrong” and apologised to DJ Lag.
“My team at Black Major and their management team got in touch very quickly to discuss solutions. Communication was fast and I think this has something to do with all the pressure on social media,” DJ Lag told Sowetan yesterday.
“The settlement reflects my contribution as a composer of the music of Culture. I can’t share details but I can confirm that I am very happy with the settlement. It is all agreed and settled.”
Asked if will.i.am had further apologised to him since issuing a social media apology last November, DJ Lag said: “Let’s just say we are OK and there is more work we can do together in the future.”
The 25-year-old musician credited his victory on his South African fans for rallying behind him on social media.
“[When] Culture was released social media went crazy with thousands of says to the point that the track and video were taken down and all says were cleared out,” DJ Lag said.
“I have never seen anything like it in my life and I am so grateful to every single person who messaged and shared at the time. You were all behind me full force.”
DJ Lag said he wanted to share his victory with every African artist that had ever been wronged over music copyright.
“Copyright is an artist’s legacy and legal battles are very expensive. Not every artist has the financial backing to go to court,” DJ Lag said.
“Hopefully this case sent a strong message to the world that people stand for what is right and social media is powerful enough in situations where right and wrong are very clear.
“I hope people will say of this and be like, ‘let's just get permission from the artist, we don't want a Culture/ Ice Drop situation on our hands’.
“I also hope artists who had their music copied will now have more courage to come out and say it. I think what we achieved with my team and the power of the people is extraordinary.”
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