Last weekend, actor and James Franco-lite provocateur Shia LaBeouf sustained a serious head injury onset. He's since emerged as one of the world's greatest freestyle rappers in a video that has since gone viral. Since LaBeouf can't seem to go a day without le beef, however, a rap crew has come forward and claimed that he stole their lyrics.
The video, which can be viewed below, was terribly shot on an iPhone in portrait mode, but it's clearly the same Shia we know and love (and hate). Shirtless and rocking a long, shitty rat tail down the side of his head, he passionately spits bars for a group of excited onlookers. It's hard to know exactly when it's shot, but we love to think he left the hospital after his head injury and discovered he'd woken up as a killer freestyler.
Unfortunately, however, that's probably not the case. As the FADER points out, the ANOMOLIES rap crew have accused LaBeouf of lifting his lyrics from their song "Perfectionist," which was written and recorded in 1999. They called LaBeouf's lifting "straight disrespect to lyricism," and better yet, they challenged LaBeouf to "step into the arena" for a battle match. Now that's a battle rap event we'd certainly pay to watch.
Of course, even though plagiarism is the ultimate no-no, Shia will most likely claim he did this on purpose. In the last few years, he's ripped off everyone from Alec Baldwin to David Mamet to Charles Bukowski to Yahoo! Answers, later claiming it was all part of some grand performance art project. Oh, Shia!
Read the call-out and watch Shia LaBeouf spit that hot fire below.
The video, which can be viewed below, was terribly shot on an iPhone in portrait mode, but it's clearly the same Shia we know and love (and hate). Shirtless and rocking a long, shitty rat tail down the side of his head, he passionately spits bars for a group of excited onlookers. It's hard to know exactly when it's shot, but we love to think he left the hospital after his head injury and discovered he'd woken up as a killer freestyler.
Unfortunately, however, that's probably not the case. As the FADER points out, the ANOMOLIES rap crew have accused LaBeouf of lifting his lyrics from their song "Perfectionist," which was written and recorded in 1999. They called LaBeouf's lifting "straight disrespect to lyricism," and better yet, they challenged LaBeouf to "step into the arena" for a battle match. Now that's a battle rap event we'd certainly pay to watch.
Of course, even though plagiarism is the ultimate no-no, Shia will most likely claim he did this on purpose. In the last few years, he's ripped off everyone from Alec Baldwin to David Mamet to Charles Bukowski to Yahoo! Answers, later claiming it was all part of some grand performance art project. Oh, Shia!
Read the call-out and watch Shia LaBeouf spit that hot fire below.