Watch the sample
In 2011, Jay Z, Kanye West and Frank Ocean came together to craft two of the more popular records on Hov/Ye’s collaborative Watch The Throne album in 2011. Now, three years later, an independent Brooklyn musician, Joel McDonald, is suing the three Grammy Award winners for allegedly stealing his song–also titled “Made In America”–which he published on iTunes in 2009.
Despite, “Made In America” was never released as an official single, the song, thanks in large part to Frank Ocean’s rapidly rising star power at the time, was one of the more well-received records on WTT. Not only that, but when Jay Z teamed up with Budweiser, he chose to name their annual bi-coastal music festival “Made In America”.
McDonald is suing the threesome for $3 million in the name of copyright infringement. We’ve included both songs below, so you be the judge. Are The Throne thieves or is Mr. McDonald trolling for a paycheck?
