El Chombo’s “Dame Tu Cosita” featuring Cutty Ranks has surpassed 5 billion views on YouTube, making it the most viewed song on the platform that features a dancehall artist.
Originally recorded in 1997 as a short track titled “Introduccion B (El Cosita Mix)” on El Chombo’s Cuentos de la Cripta II, the song was officially released as a single on April 5, 2018 via Juston Records / Play Two, under exclusive license to Ultra Records. Its resurgence came after a viral dance video featuring a green alien animated by ArtNoux captivated audiences around the world.
The song became the most viewed video of 2018, and the second most viewed music video of 2020. It was also the fourth fastest song to hit 3 billion streams and now ranks as the 7th most viewed music video of all time on YouTube. The viral momentum carried the song to number 36 on the Billboard Hot 100 and to the top of the Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart.
Despite its global success, “Dame Tu Cosita” is now at the center of a major copyright infringement lawsuit. Producers Cleveland “Clevie” Browne and the late Wycliffe “Steely” Johnson claim the song, along with over 1,800 others, illegally uses elements of their 1989 dancehall riddim “Fish Market.” They allege that “Fish Market” is the foundation of the widely used “dembow” rhythm heard across countless reggaeton tracks.
The lawsuit, first filed in 2021, targets more than 150 defendants, including high-profile artists such as Daddy Yankee, Luis Fonsi, Justin Bieber, Bad Bunny, Anitta, Karol G, Pitbull, Ricky Martin, and El Chombo himself. Major music labels—Universal, Sony, and Warner—are also named, and are reportedly backing top intellectual property attorneys from Pryor Cashman to fight the case, according to documents obtained by World Music Views.
U.S. law does permit copyright cases to be brought decades later, and the outcome of this landmark case which will be tired this summer could have sweeping implications for the reggaeton genre and the music industry at large.
