Hiplife artiste Guru has been accused again of
stealing a song.
This time round, a young rapper Nautica, signed
onto M.I.M LIFE Records, alleged that Guru stole
his song titled 'Obumpa' after negotiations to
feature the 'Lapaz Toyota' hit maker on the said
song broke down.
Nautica, in an interview with NEWS-ONE alleged
that after he heard Guru's version of the
'Obumpa' song, he was convinced that it was the
same as his 'Obumpa' track in terms to rhythms,
chorus and tempo, which he had earlier sent to
Guru's manager during the period both parties
were in talks to get Guru on his song.
"I called Guru and told him I wanted to feature
him on my 'Obumpa' track. He agreed and asked
me to send the song to his manager. We sent his
manager the song; he said he liked it and will
send it to Guru later because at that point Guru
was not in Ghana. After two days, his manager
called me and explained that Guru will do the
song with me for GH¢3,000 but my manager
also said it was too expensive so we called off
the deal.
"A week ago, one of the guys on our label drew
my attention to the fact that Guru had released
a song titled 'Obumpa' which was the same as
mine. I found the song on the internet,
downloaded and listened to it and true it was
almost the same in terms to rhythms, chorus
and tempo," he stated.
According to Nautica, when his manager
confronted Guru's management about the issue,
they denied any wrongdoing.
"My manager confronted Guru's manager about
it because they had taken the song we sent
them, modified and released it without our
permission. His manager's defence was that he
never sent my song to Guru; hence it was not
true that his song was a direct copy of mine.
Guru, on the other hand, denied ever listening
to my song as well because his manager did not
send it to him. He even asked that we buy eggs
and rain curses on him if we believe he stole our
song," Nautica added.
Meanwhile, Michael Ohene Antwi, one of the
reps of Guru's management team, admitted that
they earlier held talks with Nautica about a
collaboration for the said song but negotiations
broke down when Nautica and his management
said they could not pay the amount Guru had
demanded.
"There is a group in Brong Ahafo called
'Obumpa' and they split due to some problems
but after they came back together, Guru decided
to feature on their comeback song. The lyrics
and rhythms are not the same so I don't know
why these guys are going around with this story.
If he wants to get attention, this is not the right
way. If Nautica and his management have a
problem, they should attack the group called
Obumpa not Guru. The title of the song Guru
featured on is not 'Obumpa' but rather it is the
name of the group that featured him," Ohene
Antwi said.
This is about the fourth time this year that Guru
has been accused of stealing songs. It would be
recalled that an artiste known as Osagy also
accused Guru of pilfering his song 'Bossu' which
has the same arrangements and chorus settings
as one of Guru's latest works also titled 'Bossu'.
Another artiste, Tee Phlow, also accused Guru of
stealing the concept of 'Alkayida', claiming he
(Tee Phlow) released his 'Alkayida' song right
after placing second in 'The Next Big Thing' rap
contest.
