Primary plagiarism scandal escalates

The controversy surrounding alleged plagiarism by celebrated hip-hop artist Primary is escalating as listeners find more similarities between Primary’s songs and the creations of David Schreurs, a producer for Dutch jazz singer Caro Emerald.

Accusations of plagiarism surfaced earlier this month with the release of “I Got C,” which Primary produced with comedian Park Myung-soo for the popular MBC entertainment program “Infinite Challenge.” The song topped most of the major music charts in Korea.

Schreurs pointed out several similarities between “I Got C” and his previous songs made for the jazz singer Emerald. On Nov. 3, a day after Primary’s “I Got C” was unveiled in Korea, Schreurs tweeted, “Yes we think you guys copied us. Not the end of the world, just not very cool. Credit where credit is due.”

Schreurs specified names of his songs in a Nov. 5 tweet, saying “Myung Soo&Primary ‘I Got C’ great blend of Liquid Lunch+You Don’t Love Me. Over the line but you gotta love the track!”

Schreurs claims that Primary “clearly copied” three songs, noting several similarities such as the piano intro and the horn sample in “You Don’t Love Me” and the chorus and melody in “Liquid Lunch.”

Amoeba Culture Entertainment, which represents Primary, earlier dismissed the plagiarism charge, claiming that it is “caused by the similarity in the genre called retro swing.”

The plagiarism scandal revealed more resemblances between two other Primary songs and Schreurs’ creations.

Fans have said that “Mr. Lee,” which Primary produced for singer Park Ji-yoon and “Happy Ending” (2011) have similarities with Schreurs’ work.

Schreurs stated in an email interview with Dispatch, an online entertainment news site, on Nov. 4 that “‘Happy Ending’ is clearly based on ‘I Know That He’s Mine’” that it has the “exact same chord scheme.” And in “Mr. Lee,” many elements such as the “chord scheme, song structure, drumtrack, instrumentation, arrangements” are identical to his song “One Day.”

However, the plagiarism scandal is not likely to end up in court with Schreurs saying he would “rather let the public decide,” in his Nov. 8 tweet.

By Lee Woo-young (wylee@heraldcorp.com)