Beyoncé sued for copyright after sampling a classic house track on her ‘Renaissance’ album

Beyoncé has been named a defendant in a second lawsuit over her track ‘Alien Superstar,’ filed by a now-defunct house music label, Soundmen on Wax.

Beyoncé faces a second copyright lawsuit over the sample that opens “Alien Superstar.” For over a year, the ‘Renaissance’ standout has been in legal limbo, and this isn’t the first lawsuit stemming from this album. The lawsuit was filed on August 10th by Hirose Enterprise LLC and Shuji Hirose, who ran the defunct New York house label Soundmen on Wax. The group claims the spoken-word intro on “Alien Superstar” is directly from Foremost Poets’ 1998 track “Moonraker.” Additionally, they claim they did not properly clear the clip for the track.

Here’s where it gets messy. According to the filing, “Alien Superstar” dropped in July 2022 with no license in place for “Moonraker.” However, Beyoncé and her team did clear the sampling with the track’s original artist. A license reportedly came through about six weeks later, granted by Foremost Poets artist John Holiday. Hirose says the original artist is no longer the license holder and has no right to approve the use of the track, meaning Holiday had already signed away his full interest in the recording in 1998 under a $1,500 deal with Soundmen on Wax. 

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To make matters messier, a 2005 burglary allegedly resulted in the loss of the original contract between Foremost Poets and Hirose. Hirose and team argue that Parkwood Entertainment, the team behind Beyoncé, should have known that Holiday lacked licensing rights for the track, given its two-decade history with the label.

This is not Hirose’s first swing at Beyoncé, having filed a similar suit in July 2025 through a Florida company, but a judge dismissed it in June 2026 on a technicality. This time, the list of defendants in the lawsuit has grown to include Beyoncé, Parkwood, Sony Music Entertainment, Sony Music Publishing, Warner Chappell Music, and John Holiday himself. The complaint also alleges that both tracks were performed without authorization during the Renaissance World Tour and the Cowboy Carter Tour. Hirose is seeking damages accounting for the profits of the “Alien Superstar” track.

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Shiv

Hey! I’m Shiv!

Music is the greatest part of my life, I remember discovering dubstep when I was 15/16 and my entire life was altered – robot noises?? I needed MORE!

Now, I live in NYC and have seen over 80 artists of all genres (I’ve lost count). Some of my faves being Odesza, Rezz, Griz, Zeds Dead, Pretty Lights, Of The Trees, Daily Bread, and Kaskade.

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