Drake and Chris Brown Reportedly Face Another Copyright Infringement Lawsuit Over 2019 Hit 'No Guidance'
After a separate lawsuit was dropped two years ago, a new complaint alleges the song infringes on the copyright of the 2016 song "I Got It" by Tykeiya.
Drake and Chris Brown in the 'No Guidance' video
Drake could need some guidance on a new lawsuit. The Canadian superstar is named in a suit alongside Chris Brown alleging that their 2019 hit "No Guidance" copies a 2016 track, "I Got It" by Tykeiya, as reported by Music Business Worldwide. "No Guidance" hit No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100, and topped several charts like Hot R&B Songs and R&B/Hip-hop Airplay, as well as passing one billion plays on Spotify.
The singers faced a previous suit that was dropped in 2022, but the new legal complaint comes from different parties. Tykeiya Dore and Marc Stephens are suing Drake, Brown, and the rest of the song's writers (Nija Charles, Michee Lebrun and Tyler Bryant) and producers (Anderson Hernandez, Joshua Huizar, Teddy Walton, and Noah Shebib).
The complaint, filed in United States district court in New Jersey, is posted in full on Music Business Worldwide. It alleges that the writers took the hook from Tykeiya's "I Got It" and changed the lyric from "I got it" to "you got it." Further, the plaintiffs claim that Dore's uncle, Jesse Spruils, sent "I Got It" to one of the "No Guidance" writers, Nija Charles, and that Spruils confronted Charles after "No Guidance" was released about the similarities, with Charles blocking him on social media.
Dore and Stephens are seeking $5 million in damages. The suit also names YouTube as a defendant, accusing the company of defaming Stephens. Stephens says he filed takedown requests of "No Guidance" and that YouTube responded by calling Stephens' claims fraudulent, eventually deleting his channel (it was later re-instated).
"Its [sic] impossible to not hear the two songs are substantially similar," reads the lawsuit.
Listen for yourself to "No Guidance" and Tykeiya's "I Got It" below:
