The beat from Gary Frisby's 2013 track “Shawty So Cold” is popular with more popular artists.
Or so says Gary Frisby, who's suing J. Cole and Bryson Tiller from swiping the beat without credit or pay.
Frisby alleges that Cole's 2017 track “Déjà Vu” and Bryson's 2016 cut"Exchange" have “the same kick pattern, snare pattern, FX swell, and vocal strike" and that "the substantial similarities between the three songs are of no coincidence.”
So he's suing each for $150,000, plus an injunction against them from continuing to profit off his work.
To make everything more complicated, Tiller's and Cole's camps have already fought over the beat, with Cole's producers saying Tiller's stole the beat from them and then put out the track before they could.
The three tracks are below, and the similarities are apparent.