Erykah Badu Wants To 'Beat Up' Will.I.Am Over New Black Eyed Peas Clip

Veteran hip hop outfit the Black Eyed Peas have caused a dash of early controversy ahead of their forthcoming seventh studio album with the release of the clip for new single Yesterday — and it's not due to the fact that long-time singer Fergie is absent once again.

Instead, the Peas have found themselves on the radar of venerated activist and singer-songwriter Erykah Badu, who took to social media early this morning (AEST) to pick a bone of contention with will.i.am and company over the video for Yesterday, which shares a few… shall we say… similarities with the well-known clip for Badu's 2007 track Honey, in which the chanteuse appears superimposed across several otherwise inanimate album covers. 

"I think THE BLACK EYED PEAS borrowed my idea a lil," Badu wrote on Facebook. "I'm gone beat up Will I AM."

Despite the tongue-in-cheek lashing, Badu evidently doesn't mind being the source of the Peas' inspiration, indicating that she was "flattered" by the creative choices of the Yesterday clip's director and previous BEP filmmaker Pasha Shapiro.

"I wrote and directed this joint," Badu explained, referring to her Honey clip. "Won best director @ VMA's… so I understand, Pasha Shapiro… flattered.

"Cute video nonetheless."

Indeed, Yesterday — whatever its visual influences — is something of an aural revelation for the Black Eyed Peas, moving solidly away from the electro-drenched offerings of the mid-late 2000s towards a more straightforward, eminently more listenable, hip hop aesthetic, doubly carried off with the apparent (albeit unconfirmed) loss of Fergie, who was also missing from previous release Awesome.

Have a look and listen at the new goods below, and see Badu's original clip for comparison.