Erykah Badu Accuses Black Eyed Peas Of Stealing Her Video Concept
Erykah Badu has spotted some startling similarities between the Black Eyed Peas’ brand new music video for “Yesterday” and her 2008 video for “Honey.” Yesterday afternoon Badu tweeted links to both videos, and if you watch them both in a row, she’s definitely not wrong.
I think THE BLACK EYE PEAS borrowed my idea a Lil lol …
Yesterday by BEP
http://t.co/ocbAiNgakJ
Honey by E BADU
http://t.co/pzeqQWZeZE
— ErykahBadoula (@fatbellybella) July 19, 2015
“Honey” was the lead single for Badu’s album New Amerykah Part One (4th World War). She co-directed the video along with Chris Robinson and it shows her wandering through a record store, selecting classic rap/R&B records, and morphing into characters on the record covers. That’s pretty much… exactly what happens in the Black Eyed Peas’ new video, too. It’s a shame, since it’s their best new song in a long, long time. Also, it seems unlikely that the Black Eyed Peas would have somehow missed the Badu’s video; it won Best Direction at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards, was nominated for three other VMAs, was nominated for Best Short Form Music Video at the 51st Grammy Awards, and won Best Director at the BET Awards. That’s the definition of a good idea.
Compare the two for yourself below.
Erykah Badu, “Honey”
Black Eyed Peas, “Yesterday”