As earlier reported by this publication, Tekno has been caught in a shameless act of song theft as Ciara’s new single featuring the Nigerian pop star had very consequential similarities with a 2015 record by Tiwa Savage titled ‘Before Nko’.
Before Nko which is the ninth track off Tiwa’s sophomore album, RED featured vocal contributions from Mavin label mate, D’Prince. The likeness of the Tiwa Savage track to the just-released Ciara and Tekno record titled ‘Freak Me’, is quite conspicuous to go unnoticed as the similarities spans throughout the later; from the instrumental, intro to the chants and melody. A case of plagiarism can also be taken up as some of the lyrics in Before Nko are interpolated into the Ciara record.
Although it is a Ciara record, Tekno appears to be receiving the bigger blow because he is closer to home and has in the past been caught in cases of song theft, with the most recent being the saga around his 2018 hit, Jogodo which interpolated lyrics and sampled the melody of Danfo Drivers’ ‘Kpolongo’ without seeking the permission of the duo.
However, our new findings in some way defy the notion that Tekno or Ciara stole the song from Tiwa Savage as she is publicly credited as a writer. Seen on popular music platform, Genius, Tiwa Savage receives the first credit as a songwriter of Freak Me. Don Jazzy (Michael Ajereh) and D’Prince (Charles Enebeli) who also featured Tiwa’s version all received songwriters credits and this begs the question; why is Tiwa upset?
Does receiving public credits without prior notice, a preceding discourse or an agreement of any sorts make Ciara and Tekno less culpable? We are currently making attempts to get the account of Tekno to ascertain a balanced report. Until then, where it goes from here, remains to be seen.