Fik Fameica Speaks Out on Plagiarism of Songs Allegations

Written by: 
Daphine Nanyunja

Ugandan rapper, Walukagga Shafik aka Fik Fameica has defended himself over allegations that he copied Pepeta song, saying he improved it and his fans enjoy the music.

"It is the fans to decide what is good to the ears. Even if the song is copied, it does not matter as long as the fans enjoy it," said Fik.

During an interview on a local TV station, he denied the allegations of duplicating the song in to his Mafia song saying that his management just improved the song.

"We did not plagiarise any song, we just improved it even though the musical composition arrangement appears to be the same," explained Fik.

He added that the demands by Chin Bees as per the letter issued to his management to stop performing the song, delete it from online platforms and sharing the money he has made from the song are cruel demands.

"That is too much to ask of my management because even if I stop performing the song on stage, you cannot stop my fans from requesting for it on TV stations," he added.

According to Fameica's fans who talked to journalis@mak, most of his songs are a duplication of songs from other artistes which has earned him quick success as they turn out to be hits.

"Most of Fameica's songs are duplicates of other songs, like the 'kutama' which he duplicated from the Kenyan gospel song 'Thitima Anthem' by Kaymo and Stigah," says Akampa Patience, a second year of Bachelor of Journalism and Communication.

"Fik is a very smart guy in that he duplicates the musical arrangement of other songs and surprisingly his songs emerge as hits now like the 'Byenyenya', a duplicate of 'Fester Skank' by Lethal Bizzle and Diztortion," says Kakooza Martin, another fun.

"I do not see any harm because if you listen to these two songs, the beat is the same but the language is very different so I do not think that it is plagiarism," says Kauma Augustine, a third year student of B.A Education.

This comes after complaints from Tanzanian Hip-hop rapper Musa Ramadhan alias Chin Bees of unlawful copying and unauthorized use of his song Pepeta which was released on the 10th March, 2017.

He claims that the two songs Pepeta and Mafia have the same musical composition, which is a typical duplication as per the letter served to Fameica's management over plagiarism.