When T-Pain announced a "surprise" for his fans, he probably did not envision it would manifest copyright issues. The artist dropped a new song called "That's Yo Money." What began as a cause for celebration quickly went left when people pointed out the new track's resemblance to a previously-released song.
Fans noticed how the melodic theme of T's new track seemed to be inspired by "Tum Hi Ho," which dropped in 2013 as part of the soundtrack for the Bollywood film Aashiqui 2. This accusation was then propelled by the "Tum Hi Ho" songwriter, who reacted to the comparisons on Twitter. He politely insinuated that T-Pain might hear from his representatives.
"Sir, the melody that you have used in your new song is my original work for a previously released Hindi film..The Label is looking into this. #tumhiho #Aashiqui2"
Filmmaker Mohit Suri also commented on the matter. "Dunno why but this seems familiar," he tweeted, "It’s a melody from Mithun’s song buddy."
"That's Yo Money" has been removed from T-Pain's Youtube and Twitter accounts citing "a copyright claim by a third party" for its disappearance. T-Pain himself has yet to comment on the issue. A snippet of the track is still available via Instagram. Peep both tracks below for comparison.
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