THE BOYZ Eric’s Producer Comes Under Fire For Allegedly Plagiarizing B.A.P’s “Coffee Shop”
THE BOYZ‘s Eric recently celebrated his birthday with fans by releasing multiple photos and a self-written song.
[에릭] gift 🎁 pic.twitter.com/liib4Jh6Sj
— THE BOYZ (더보이즈) (@WE_THE_BOYZ) December 22, 2022
— THE BOYZ (더보이즈) (@WE_THE_BOYZ) December 22, 2022
The song titled “4:03 (Jet Lag)” features an artist named Davii, and Eric himself did the lyrics and composition. It was released on Soundcloud, much to fans’ excitement, and has gained over 60 thousand streams in two days.
[☁] 4:03 (Jet Lag) (feat.DAVII) by ERIC
🎶 https://t.co/33QdWxhcdW#THEBOYZ #더보이즈 #ERIC #에릭 pic.twitter.com/BkRQOixtXM
— 더보이즈(THE BOYZ) (@IST_THEBOYZ) December 21, 2022
After the gained traction on social media, it was met with criticism from fans of the third-generation K-Pop group B.A.P. According to fans of the group, the beat and instrumental were extremely similar to the group’s song “Coffee Shop,” which was released in 2013.
this is clearly a copy of BAP's Coffee Shop.. where's the credit?? What in the plagiarism is this??pic.twitter.com/rG9XpLEyta https://t.co/DOd23iCYQT
— G ( BeTS PCD Era ) (@FangrrlGreys) December 22, 2022
In addition to this, fans also discovered that the top line of the song was also extremely similar to B.A.P’s song.
The Song '4:03' by Eric (THE BOYZ) stole not only the instrumental part of Coffee Shop but also the topline of Coffee Shop.#BAP #CoffeeShop #THEBOYZ #Eric pic.twitter.com/DLhkvEro8Z
— Baidu B.A.P Bar (@BaiduBAPBar) December 23, 2022
After discovering the similarities between the songs, fans went directly to the producer, who goes by Dyan, to find out what was happening. Fans commented on another video shared by the producer, who claimed that the beat was from a sample he then linked to on YouTube.
However, the “sample” was a piano rendition of Coffee Shop, as stated in the cover song’s information.
Fans of B.A.P quickly pointed out that “Coffee Shop” was an original work and shared the song’s credit from the album that it was released on, as well as the KOMCA listing. No one in the credits of “Coffee Shop” was mentioned in the credits of “4:03 (Jet Lag).”
The producer continued to deny the plagiarism accusations on his Instagram account and stated that he was the owner of the beat before dismissing all concerns and directing fans to contact IST Entertainment.
While fans of B.A.P want the song to be properly credited, many fans of THE BOYZ are upset with the company for not taking steps to ensure these allegations of plagiarism would not happen.
deobis in the qrt are so pathetic. that's not how you protect your idol. eric made a mistake by not checking clearly the producer he worked with. y'all should've been helping babyz to push IST to make an apology on behalf of eric instead of disregarding b.a.p. https://t.co/pVQZvqdHql
— dina 🎭 (@yooyjayo) December 23, 2022
i think babyz all agree but to deobis we have to make it clear:
we’re still angry and we blame eric and ist for being sloppy in the production process- a simple shazam could find out what beat it is from
but the blame is indeed bigger in dyan’s part for plagiarizing pic.twitter.com/alWX5ybKwA
— Dearest 💙 Chedia (@chepalettes) December 23, 2022
people said that eric got scammed by a producer. but.. bap coffee shop is so popular, maybe eric doesnt know this song but other people in IST? like the agency or people who work with him need to recheck first before uploading this right? https://t.co/MDhFCdOkwY
— ✶ (@haengbvk) December 23, 2022
IST Entertainment nor Eric have released a statement regarding the allegations as of yet.
