Francis Bebey's Song and the Copyright Question
The writer documents a case in which American rapper Theophilus London's song, featured in Netflix's *Ozark*, appears to draw from Cameroonian musician Francis Bebey's work—without permission or compensation to Bebey's estate. The post connects this incident to an earlier essay on the vulnerability of creative ideas in the absence of intellectual property protection.
In October 2019, I published an article here titled "Do Your Ideas Really Belong To You?" In that article, I wrote this in the article.
//"The thing about the creative industry, however, is that the driving force behind the industry is ideas; the fruits of the mind, so to speak. A lot of what is a dress is first of all the idea that someone conceived in his/her mind before it became a party gown. A lot of what becomes a hit song is first of all the idea of a melody that someone conceived in their mind before hitting the notes on a piano or clicking them on Fruityloops.
Which brings me to the question; HOW MANY OF US ARE THINKING ABOUT PROTECTING THOSE IDEAS?
And that is where intellectual property comes into play. Your ideas are only as good as yours when you take the time to protect them via copyright or a trademark...
As we advance and the creativity industry grows and eventually matures it won’t be long before we start hearing that so and so person stole so-and-so beat....
But when push comes to shove and things have to take a legal turn, it becomes difficult to get any kind of compensation out of the whole brouhaha.//"
Why am I bringing this up again?
In the Netflix series "Ozark" a song by Francis Bebey, our Francis Bebey, that has been plagiarized by an American musician called Theophilus London played in an episode of the series.
As it turns out, Francis Bebey's estate was never asked permission and never compensated for the copyrights to the song. No doubt they will take some legal action and they will be duly compensated.
So... Shine your eye.
Below are the links to the original song and the plagiarised version.
Francis Bebey: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bY2pigFyXG0
Theophilus London: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pJwFzJs864
Again, shine your eyes
. - Wandji Wilfred
The piece is rooted in the early pandemic moment (April 2020), when streaming platforms had become central to cultural distribution and consumption, yet questions of rights and attribution across borders remained murky. It reflects ongoing tensions between global platforms, artist visibility, and the practical difficulty of protecting creative work, especially from the Global South.
Then and now, the post serves as a clear-eyed indictment of how easily cultural work can be appropriated and monetized without recourse. It names a specific instance—not as scandal-mongering, but as evidence of the structural vulnerability the writer had identified months earlier. For Cameroon's creative sector, it underscores both the visibility of local artists on global platforms and the asymmetry in power when claiming rights.