After giving J. Cole's new album 4 Your Eyez Only a listen, people started noticing something odd: The beat on 'Deja Vu' sounds the same as the one on the Bryson Tiller track 'Exchange.'
So did the song's producers, Boi-1da & Vinylz, swipe the beat from Tiller and his team?
Actually, according to Boi-1da & Vinylz, the exact opposite happened.
In a series of Twitter exchanges the producers accuse The Mekanics producer Foreign Teck of stealing their beat, and then getting it out before they did.
Maybe @ForeignTeck can explain why to y'all why Exchange and Deja Vu sound similar... right @Vinylz ?
— Boi-1da (@Boi1da) December 9, 2016
damn @Boi1da wake up everyday tryna come for me lmao i'm honored. at the end of the day you one of my favorite to ever do it man
— Foreign Teck (@ForeignTeck) December 9, 2016
@ForeignTeck Just letting the ppl know that you're a thief and this has nothing to do with anyone but you.
— Boi-1da (@Boi1da) December 9, 2016
@ForeignTeck you're really out here reverse engineering beats. It ain't about money and placements, it's the principle.
— Boi-1da (@Boi1da) December 9, 2016
Then go listen to Meek - U know and Deja Vu back to back. Ripped my drum pattern. Shit brazy lol no class
— Boi-1da (@Boi1da) December 9, 2016
Me and @Boi1da made that exchange beat first. It was stolen from us by a thief named @ForeignTeck . Cole song was recorded before exchange
— Vinylz (@Vinylz) December 9, 2016
I sent this thief a video of me making the Deja Vu beat..a week later he post a beat on ig with the same drums. I made him take it down.
— Vinylz (@Vinylz) December 9, 2016
He said "I'm sorry bro.. I was inspired . I look up to you" few months later he decides to remake the whole beat and give it to Bryson
— Vinylz (@Vinylz) December 9, 2016
He even offered me publishing on the song.. why would u offer publishing if you didn't steal it?...
— Vinylz (@Vinylz) December 9, 2016
Fuck all this shit tho. This ain't even my style. Me and 1da make hits in our sleep. We just had to address this.
— Vinylz (@Vinylz) December 9, 2016
S/o to my brother Bryson . He has nothing to do with this. This is all directed at the producer
— Vinylz (@Vinylz) December 9, 2016
I have no problem with producers being inspired and trying to sound like me .. but don't steal my shit and put it out before me..
— Vinylz (@Vinylz) December 9, 2016
For his part, Foreign Teck denies Vinylz' account of what happened.
if @Vinylz tweeted that the sky was green some of y'all dickriders would believe him. smh
— Foreign Teck (@ForeignTeck) December 9, 2016
Here are the two tracks in question:
https://open.spotify.com/track/6I6NX6tjGsxFAsIfGzY9lJ