Shia LaBeouf Accused of Plagiarism in His "Freestyle"

Most have done it before. When you’re gathered with a group of friends, and if you’ve ever had the chance to freestyle rap or participate in a cypher, there will be times that you might “borrow” pre-written lyrics from your own material or even from other people’s songs. Shia LaBeouf is the latest to be called out for doing so. In a recent viral video, the actor was candidly filmed to be “freestyling” with some friends. While, at first, the video was generally positively received by those who weren’t previously aware of LaBeouf’s affinity for hip-hop, seasoned heads of the genre were quick to recognize that certain lines from the performance weren’t his. In a now-deleted Instagram post, Pri the Honeydark, a member of the rap group ANOMOLIES, accused him of stealing lyrics from the crew’s 1999 song, “Perfectionist.” She exclaims: “You can’t rip songs from my ANOMOLIES crew, recite them in a freestyle as your own, get credit for it, then not expect to be called out by ACTUAL MCs!”

The plagiarized lines are as follows, verbetim: “I reckon you want more of that rare commodity, the quality is what it’s got to be, and my philosophy is much farther than what your eyes can see.” Watch LaBeouf’s freestyle below (the lines start at 2:23), and compare it with ANOMOLIES’ “Perfectionist” (beginning at 0:45), and let us know if you think what Shia did was appropriate.