Aurora producer, Chicago artist sue Black Eyed Peas

An Aurora music producer and his Chicago-based client, Phoenix Phenom, are looking to put "that boom boom pow" on the Black Eyed Peas for "jackin' their style."

A lawsuit filed this week in federal court claims the group's 2009 hit, "Boom Boom Pow," is a plagiarized version of a song titled "Boom Dynamite" written by Chicago artist Ebony Latrice Batts, also known as the Phoenix Phenom, and her producer, Manfred Mohr.

According to the suit, Mohr submitted a copy of "Boom Dynamite" to executives at Interscope Records, the Black Eyed Peas' record label, in January 2008 after company representatives expressed interest in Batts' music. In March 2009, the Black Eyed Peas released the song "Boom Boom Pow" as the first single off the group's fifth studio album, entitled "The E.N.D."

According to the lawsuit, the song was number one on the Billboard chart and sold more than 4.6 million downloads. It held the top spot on the singles chart for 12 weeks.

"'Boom Boom Pow,' as a whole, is substantially similar to 'Boom Dynamite,' and the hook portions of both songs are so strikingly similar that there can be no other reasonable explanation but that the Black Eyed Peas copied plaintiffs' song," the suit states.

Reached at his Aurora home Friday, Mohr declined to comment at the instruction of his attorney, Ira Gould, who did not return a call placed to his office Friday.

The suit asks that the Peas be prohibited from performing the song publicly, that Mohr and Batts be allowed to profit from the song and that both be given songwriter's credits in regard to the song.