BlocBoy JB Finally Sues Fortnite For Stealing "Shoot" Dance: Report

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BlocBoy JB attends the 4th Annual TIDAL X: Brooklyn at Barclays Center of Brooklyn on October 23, 2018 in New York City.
BlocBoy JB is the latest to take Epic Games to court over unauthorized use of his dance.

BlocBoy JB is finally taking action against Fortnite and Epic Games for appropriating his "Shoot" dance for the video game. According to TMZ, BlocBoy recently filed his own lawsuit against Fortnite for the use of his "Shoot" dance. The video game essentially co-opted his viral dance move and dubbed it the "Hype" dance. Clearly, Epic Games is out of the loop with pop culture if they thought the hip-hop community at large wouldn't notice.

In court documents, BlocBoy JB says he created the dance and Epic Games never received any proper authorization to use the move for Fornite. The rapper says he didn't have register a copyright for the dance move when Fortnite used it, but he's saying that he's working on getting that right now. 

Towards the end of December, BlocBoy JB took to Twitter to reveal that he was considering taking legal action against the Fortnite creators. The rapper previously aired out Epic Games for the use of the dance move, saying that they've received more credit for the "Shoot" dance, although he's the one who created it. BlocBoy JB also made a valid point when he accused the company of cultural appropriation, writing, "Dey Love Our Culture But Hate Our Color."

Chance The Rapper previously took aim at Fornite on Twitter over not giving BlocBoy JB and 2 Milly giving them credit. 

"Fortnite should put the actual rap songs behind the dances that make so much money as Emotes. Black creatives created and popularized these dances but never monetized them. Imagine the money people are spending on these Emotes being shared with the artists that made them," he said.


About The Author
Aron A. is a features editor for HotNewHipHop. Beginning his tenure at HotNewHipHop in July 2017, he has comprehensively documented the biggest stories in the culture over the past few years. Throughout his time, Aron’s helped introduce a number of buzzing up-and-coming artists to our audience, identifying regional trends and highlighting hip-hop from across the globe. As a Canadian-based music journalist, he has also made a concerted effort to put spotlights on artists hailing from North of the border as part of Rise & Grind, the weekly interview series that he created and launched in 2021. Aron also broke a number of stories through his extensive interviews with beloved figures in the culture. These include industry vets (Quality Control co-founder Kevin "Coach K" Lee, Wayno Clark), definitive producers (DJ Paul, Hit-Boy, Zaytoven), cultural disruptors (Soulja Boy), lyrical heavyweights (Pusha T, Styles P, Danny Brown), cultural pioneers (Dapper Dan, Big Daddy Kane), and the next generation of stars (Lil Durk, Latto, Fivio Foreign, Denzel Curry). Aron also penned cover stories with the likes of Rick Ross, Central Cee, Moneybagg Yo, Vince Staples, and Bobby Shmurda.
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