Nicki Minaj is being sued for copyright infringement for her 2014 song “I Lied” as one other musician is accusing her of getting “directly copied” his beat.
In response to a lawsuit obtained by The Post, musician Julis Johnson filed the grievance Monday in California, claiming that Minaj and producer Mike Will Made It’s ballad sounds eerily just like his song “onmysleeve.”
Johnson claims his song was published on YouTube in 2011 — three years before “I Lied” was included on Minaj’s album “The Pinkprint.”
Within the docs, Johnson says his beat was included on a hard disk drive that was taken from a studio session without his consent in 2013 when he attended the Art Institute of Atlanta.
Johnson claims that “associates” or “affiliates” of Minaj, 40, and Mike Will, 34, also had access to the institute’s recording space around that point and allegedly got their hands on his hard disk drive.
Nevertheless, a source claiming to be near Minaj told TMZ that the “Super Bass” rapper had nothing to do with choosing the beat.
“Clearly Nicki is a lyricist, so the claim when it comes to production will obviously need to be addressed by the applicable parties,” they said.
The Post has contacted reps for Minaj, Mike Will and Johnson for comment.
The suit claims that each “onmysleeve” and “I Lied” “contain substantially similar underlying instrumentation and beat,” in addition to “utilize a minimum of the identical style instrument bed, rhythm, beats per minute, and song key.”
Producers Ester Renay Dean and Skooly, in addition to Universal Music Group and other record labels, are also named as defendants within the suit.
Johnson wants Minaj’s and Mike Will’s profits they earned from the song, in addition to for a judge to organize them to stop using it — or a minimum of credit him on “I Lied” and the album.
The suit claims that “The Pinkprint” was “streamed 16.8 million times across all on-demand streaming services in america during its first week.”
The album was certified double platinum in February 2016.
