A year after Jamaican singer Shenseea and her label, Interscope Records, settled a copyright infringement lawsuit filed in 2022, singer Denise ‘Sacey Wow’ Belfon now clarifies that she was not the one who sued Shenseea.
“The Jamaican community, fraternity, however, wherever, the Jamaica people need to know that I never sued Shenseea for my song. It was the produced that did the track 28 years ago that did what he did and automatically because I am the voice of the track, I am the co-writer of the track, the people ran with it because my name was in the mix it is Denise Belfon that sue Shenseea,” Denise ‘Sacey Wow’ Belfon said on a podcast with Michell Gill.
The lawsuit, filed by producer Anastas ‘Pupa Nas-T’ Hackett, claimed that Shenseea’s song “Lick” featuring Megan The Stallion sampled his Soca track “Work” without permission. A fact that caught Shenseea off guard and left her disappointment according to sources close to the matter.
Hackett sought over $10 million in damages, but the settlement terms remain confidential.
Belfon, 55, went on to profess her love for Shenseea saying, “I love that girl like cook food, she is one of the artist I look at and very proud of. Why would I do that? Before I reaching to suing her, I am the type of person to reach out to her management and trash it out privately. I don’t like them public nonsense it is unnecessary.”
Hackett expressed satisfaction with the outcome last year, emphasizing the importance of his support team and spiritual allies throughout the legal battle. He harbors no ill will towards Shenseea, praising her talent and wishing her success.
The lawsuit was dismissed without costs, and Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil allowed the case to be reinstated if the settlement wasn’t formalized by May 1, 2023.
Shenseea told WMV that her disappointment with the lawsuit lied in the fact that she was trying to revamp the almost three decade old song and put the Caribbean on the map Internationally. It was one of two lawsuits filed against her that year. The other was J$70 million copyright infringement lawsuit filed by Stephanie Sarley in a California Central District Courtin relation to the 2019 music video for Foreplay produced by Rvssian and directed by Marco ‘FrameXGod’ Ruiz. Sarley had claimed that Shenseea and her label (Universal Music Group) ripped off portions of her provocative “fruit art” works in sections of the video.
