Plies has filed a lawsuit against Megan Thee Stallion, GloRilla, Cardi B, and Soulja Boy, accusing the four rappers of sampling his 2008 song “Me & My Goons” without permission.
In the lawsuit filed in federal court in California, Bliss claims that Soulja Boy first used an unauthorized sample from “Me & My Goons” in his 2010 song “Pretty Boy Swag.” Fourteen years passed without legal action, but then Soulja allowed a sample from “Pretty Boy Swag” – itself an unauthorized sample from Plies’ song – to be featured on Megan thee Stallion and GloRilla’s 2024 song “Wanna Be.”
Shortly after the release of “Wanna Be,” a remix of the song featuring Cardi B – who allegedly also sampled “Me & My Goons” without permission, as the lawsuit claims – was also released, implicating the rapper in the entire legal fiasco. Additionally, Soulja Boy (not Plies) is credited as a songwriter on “Wanna Be.”
“Plaintiffs have never granted any license, permission, or authorization to Defendants to use any portion of the copyrighted material in the [“Pretty Boy Swag”], [“Wanna Be”]and no. [“Wanna Be (Remix)”]”The lawsuit claims.
“After learning of the infringement through communications from Plaintiffs’ legal representatives, Defendants failed to take corrective action, including providing compensation, credit, or otherwise resolving the issue. Defendants’ continued use and exploitation of the infringing work constitutes willful and wanton infringement of Plaintiffs’ copyrights.
The suit does not specify why Plies waited 14 years to first take legal action against Soulja Boy; “Pretty Swag Boy” currently has 59 million views on YouTube. Plies seeks a jury trial as well as compensation for actual damages and profits attributable to contributory infringement.