New Orleans: The estate of a late New Orleans YouTube star has filed a $US20 million ($26 million) copyright infringement lawsuit against Beyoncé over the use of his voice in her song Formation.
The estate of Anthony Barre, who went by the name Messy Mya on YouTube, claims in the lawsuit filed in New Orleans federal court Monday that Barre's voice is featured in the introduction to Formation.
The track begins with a series of spoken word samples, with lines including "What happened at the New Orleans" and "Bitch, I'm back by popular demand".
The lawsuit alleges the samples use the "voice, performance and words from his copyrighted works to create the tone, mood, setting and location of the New Orleans-themed Formation video and audio recordings."
The complaint alleges Barre's estate has received no payment or acknowledgement. Barre was fatally shot in 2010.
Barre's estate is demanding at least $26 million in damages, royalties
In addition to Beyoncé, the suit names several songwriters, the video's director and companies owned by Warner Music Group. Representatives for Beyoncé and WMG didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
AP