Afriyie Wutah, a Ghanaian singer-songwriter and record producer, has castigated Nigeria’s Burna Boy of using tunes from his song without his approval.
Afriyie was referring to his hit ‘Here to Stay’ and Burna Boy’s new hit ‘Common Person’.
The singer made the claim on thursday, February 23, 2023, when he appeared on Accra 100.5 FM’s mid-morning show Ayekoo Ayekoo.
“For how long will this go on?” Afriyie questioned, shrugging. Romeo wondered why he would not confront Burna about the allegation. Afriyie’s response was “the fire [controversy] that would follow would be massive. I don’t want any trouble.”
He counted that all he wants is for people to notice what has happened to themselves and “that’s enough.” However, commenting on ‘Common Person’, he admitted that:
“Trust me, [it’s a] beautiful song.” Afriyie also admitted it is possible two songs would bear similarities without the individual musicians hearing their respective songs beforehand.
He argued, however, that some similarities are too detailed to be sheer coincidences. “You can’t take [copy] three minutes and claim you’ve not heard the original song before,” he emphasised. “You’d be lying.”
The guitarist also indicated that aside from “a beat” from the late Highlife icon Nana Ampadu’s repertoire which he used for a song featuring Sarkodie, ‘Go Gaaga’, he has never sampled or copied from anyone.
He revealed that he asked for Ampadu’s permission in advance. Ampadu eventually hearing the song, “was elated and asked why I hadn’t invited him to sing about two bars on it,” Afriyie added. “We laughed over that and didn’t talk again until his passing.” The latest from the musician often called Afriyie Wutah is called ‘Cheers to Life’.
