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Legal News

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 and Chris Brown in the 'No Guidance' video

YouTube

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).


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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:

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Olivia Rodrigo
Chad Moore

Olivia Rodrigo

Music News

Olivia Rodrigo Searches for the Cure on ‘You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love’: Stream It Now

The project features Billboard Canadian Hot 100 No. 1 "Drop Dead" as well as a collaboration with Robert Smith.

Olivia Rodrigo has finally released her third studio album, You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love, proving once again that she’s the queen of moody love songs.

The pop star’s new LP arrived Friday (June 12), complete with 13 tracks exploring the spectrum of romantic love, from the first rush of the honeymoon phase to the creeping in of uncertainty and the emotional tidal wave that hits after it ends. It comes three years after she last released an album — having topped the Billboard 200 with 2023’s Guts — and even longer since she first established her proficiency for capturing the emotional turbulence of love on debut LP Sour.

This article was first published by Billboard U.S.

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