Nicki Minaj sued for copyright infringement by mysterious electronic producer

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‘Starships’ was the smash of last summer, selling more than 7m copies, but now Nicki Minaj, producer Red One and the song’s co-writers are all being sued for copyright infringement.

The suit was filed on Tuesday in the US, with mysterious electronic artist Clive Tanaka, described as “reclusive” by his own lawyer, claiming that ‘Starships’ rips off his song ‘Neu Chicago’. As various sources list his whereabouts as Japan, America and Argentina, little is known about the man behind the lawsuit – but the track’s prevalence on Swedish TV ads and thousands of Soundcloud hits makes it likely that Minaj et al will know his music, he argues.

Evidently, this has been brewing for a while – last year, Tanaka uploaded a track called ‘Neu starships?’, in which ‘Neu Chicago’ plays in the right channel and ‘Starships’ in the left. Minaj and Red One have yet to comment on the matter.

Check out both versions below.

‘Neu Chicago’:

‘Starships’: