Filed under: Cambio News
Just when you thought you heard the craziest
Miley Cyrus story ever...
A Pennsylvania prison inmate and aspiring songwriter is reportedly claiming that he is the true author of Miley's smash song "We Can't Stop".
Jamie Cruz, who is doing a 3- to 6-year stint on a burglary conviction in the Huntingdon State Prison, filed a lawsuit in U.S. Middle District Court to back up his song-stealing claim.
Jamie says that his song was also titled "We Can't Stop" and that it was plagiarized after he sent a copy to the Nashville-based entertainment company Big Machine Records around three years ago.
Miley released the song as a part of her major comeback last year and the tune is on her newest album
Bangerz.
The inmate claims he sent a copy of his song to Big Machine and they never responded. He asked them to either sign him as a songwriter or buy the song from him.
"They never responded to any of my letters. So after a few months go by, I figured they didn't like my song," he wrote in his self-filed suit.
While in prison he heard Miley perform "We Can't Stop" at the VMAs and realized that his tune was a hit.
"That had me shocked and very upset," he wrote in a letter to the court.
"I looked into it and found out that ... she made millions off my record and she used the same musical beat from the same beat I sent to them."
Miley's "We Can't Stop" version is essentially about drug use at a house party and James' lyrics are about having sex and using drugs in an urban club. Their lyrics aren't exactly the same but there are some similarities. James' lyrics are more sexually explicit. The first line of James' song states that it is "dedicated to Miley." It's unclear if the tunes of the two songs are the same or not.
The credits of Miley's song list her, Mike Will Made It, P-Nasty, Rock City, Doug E. Fresh and Slick Rick as authors. In addition to Big Machine, defendants in the inmate's complaint include Miley, RCA Records, MTV and VH1.
"If any of the defendants want to settle, I'll only settle for 85 percent of the overall profits and if any of the networks want to settle, I'll settle for only $25,000 per network," James wrote.
He said he won't accept a settlement of less than $150,000 from Big Machine. All of this is heading to court.
Get more details here. Do you think James was ripped off?
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