Mr. Easy Vs Mr. Eazi — Dancehall Artist Says It Is A Copyright Issue After New York Show
Drive Me Crazy Dancehall artist Mr. Easy has sought to reassure fans that his non-appearance on a recent show in New York was not deliberate, as he was never booked for the event, which was actually headlined by Afrobeats star Mr. Eazi.
“There is another artist who is using my name, and copyright mark and their use, or threatened use, of said mark is confusingly similar to my mark and that is the main issue. This is causing a confusion and a conflict, people are going to shows expecting to see me, my fans are upset and it’s very confusing,” Mr. Easy told DancehallMag.
“This whole issue is causing irreparable damages to my brand while confusing the public. I have been in contact with a UK lawyer and I have instructed them to tell these parties to immediately cease and desist from the use of a brand which is too similar to my stage name,” he added.
On Friday, Mr. Eazi headlined the BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival at the 9,000 capacity Prospect Park Bandshell amphitheater in Brooklyn. DancehallMag reached out to the Nigerian artist for comment on this story, but we have not heard back up to the time of publishing.
Eazi did share a clip from the performance with his 3.7 million Instagram followers today, which he captioned, “Headlining Prospect Park NYC on Friday was a reminder of why I Love Vibing With You All.”
The 30-year-old singer, who started his music career with the 2013 mixtape About to Blow, is best known for Leg Over, Dance For Me with Eugy, and Skintight with Efya and has over 1 million subscribers on YouTube.
He recently collaborated with Dancehall star Popcaan on the Dre Skull-produced Sekkle & Bop .
Meanwhile, Mr. Easy, 51, whose real name is Ian Dyer, began his Dancehall career more than 20 years ago. As a teen, Mr. Easy migrated to New York from Trelawny, Jamaica, bringing with him a love of Reggae and Dancehall music and culture, which has served as a creative driving force since his ’90s debut.
The hitmaker is best known for Drive Me Crazy (2001) on Tony Kelly’s Buy Out riddim. The song appeared on the soundtrack for the movie After the Sunset starring Pierce Brosnan, while another hit, Bashment Time with Frisco Kid on the Bookshelf riddim, appeared on the Belly movie soundtrack.
The singer’s other hits include Funny Man with Baby Cham (Joyride riddim), Rain Again (Showtime riddim), and Ah Who? ( Rae Rae riddim). His latest album Legendary (2020) includes songs like Guarantee, Conquer the World , and No Chances.
The Dancehall star also recently celebrated his performance for hundreds of screaming fans in Studio 54 in upstate New York. In an Instagram post on Friday, Easy asked those concerned for patience as he worked to find a solution to the issue.
“Please bear with me as I sort out the unfortunate circumstances of my name being stolen by another artist, who continues to illegally use it commercially,” he said.