Music Detectives – The Weeknd’s “Starboy” vs. Yasminah’s “Jewel of My Life”

THE WEEKND AND DAFT PUNK SUED OVER ‘STARBOY’ – (09/19/2018)

The Weeknd and Daft Punk have been accused of stealing the beat from The Weeknd’s record, “Starboy.” In documents obtained by The Blast, songwriter Yasminah, who is a Somali-American poet and activist, claims that in 2009 she recorded a song called “Jewel of My Life” aka “Hooyo,” which became a big hit in the East African community of Western transplants. Yasminah claims that in 2016, The Weeknd released “Starboy,” which she says is a carbon copy of her song. She said that The Weekend knew about her song because it made its rounds in the East African Community. 

Yasminah said that she hired a lawyer to go after The Weeknd before, and allegedly reached a settlement, but claims her label allegedly kept the money, so now she needs to take matters into her own hands. 

She is suing The Weeknd, Daft Punk and Republic Records for $5 million for allegedly ripping off her work.