According to Nigerian Afrobeats artist D’banj, his legal team has contacted renowned American musician Marc Anthony about unapprovedly sampling his famous song “Oliver Twist.”
During the lead and title track of his 2024 album, “Muevense,” Marc Antony sampled D’banj’s 2012 hit song, “Oliver Twist.”
In response, D’banj said in a recent interview with Adesope Live that while at first he was pleased that the music icon had sampled his work, the commercial aspect of music compelled him to let his legal team take over.
He said, “Marc Anthony sampling my song was one of my greatest highlights last year. He released an album last year and the title of the album and the track one was a sample of my song ‘Oliver Twist.’ I listened to it and it was just like a Latin version of ‘Oliver Twist.’
“At first, I was happy because of who he is, but my legal team and the business side of it…. He didn’t reach out to me before sampling it. The song wasn’t cleared and he put it out officially, lead single and title of the album. I don hammer…God works in mysterious ways.
He added, “I’m so happy those are the advantages of the digital era. The good thing about it is that it is already released. My legal people are handling it and I know that they are going high but deep down I still admire Marc Anthony. We have to clear it.”