Obrafour, a Ghanaian rapper, has filed a lawsuit against Drake, a multi-award-winning Canadian musician, for alleged copyright violations.
Drake sampled his 2003 song “Oye Ohene” remix in “Calling My Name,” the Ghanaian rapper claims in a lawsuit he filed on Tuesday in the US district court for the southern district of New York.
Drake had emailed Obrafour to ask permission to sample the song based on the specifics of the lawsuit, but he never heard back. According to the lawsuit, Drake used the sample in the song featured on his most recent album, “Honestly, Nevermind.”
“Obrafour had not yet responded to the June 8, 2022 Clearance Email or the follow-up June 13, 2022 Clearance Email at the point when Drake’s “Honestly, Nevermind” album was released on June 17, 2022. Nonetheless, Infringing Work is one of the songs appearing on the “Honestly, Nevermind” album, as released to the world by ‘surprise’ on June 17, 2022.
“Obrafour sues for copyright infringement under the Copyright Act and seeks all remedies afforded to him thereunder, including preliminary and permanent injunctive relief, monetary damages, including but not limited to, actual damages, profits directly and indirectly attributable to from Defendants’ infringing conduct, statutory damages under the Copyright Act in the sum of up to $150,000.00 per infringement where such infringement commenced after the Copyrighted Work was registered with the United States Copyright Office, and other economic relief,” part of the suit read.
