Interscope Records, Shenseea and Megan Thee Stallion are embroiled in a multi-million dollar lawsuit over the use of elements of Denise Belfon’s 1999 Soca song Work, in the Jamaican singer’s 2022 Lick lead track from her debut album Alpha.
The complaint was filed in the Southern District of New York on March 3, 2022, according to documents obtained by World Music Views, by Anastas Hackett aka Pupa Nas-T, who produced and co-wrote Work in 1999 with Harkness Taitt.
Shenseea released “Lick” featuring Megan Thee Stallion on January 21 with a salacious themed music video on YouTube. The song currently has 9 million views.
Hackett told DancehallMag, “It is an administrative issue. It is a live issue in the courts right now and I have legal counsel so I can’t say much.”
Traveling Man Productions, LLC along with Hackett, are listed as the plaintiffs, and are being represented by NY attorney Courtney K. Davy. They are seeking to recover US$10 million in damages, plus profits accrued from Lick, and attorney costs.
The 9-page complaint names Chinsea Linda Lee (Shenseea), Interscope Records, the UK-based Atal Music Limited and their employee Alexandre Escolier as defendants. It said that Atal Music and Escolier were contracted by Shenseea’s representatives to clear the sample of Work for use in the Lick collab with Megan Thee Stallion.
Hackett withheld his consent for the use of his song because he found the terms offered by the defendants to be inadequate according to the complaint.
In commenting on the lawsuit Shenseea’s co-manager Romeich Major told Dancehall Mag that said he was unaware of an impending legal issue and that: “Dat coulda neva happen cause a big label like dat woulda clear everything.” (That could never be the case because a major label like that would clear everything)
However over the years Interscope Records has had its fair amount of copyright lawsuits dating back to 1997 when Trauma Records filed a $100 million suit against the company and its distributor on contentions about who owned the rights to the rock group No Doubt..
Trauma owners Rob Kahane and Paul Palmer eventually walked away from the joint venture with Interscope two years early and $3 million richer–but without the top-selling act No Doubt.
In 2002 Dr. Dre and Interscope and parent company Universal were sued by an Indian film and music company for more than $500 million over the use of an unlicensed sample on “Addictive,” the first single from Truth Hurts’ debut LP, Truthfully Speaking.”
Universal Music Group was issued a cease-and-desist letter prior to the suit, which the label conglomerate ignored according to lawyers representing Seregama India Ltd.
Their copyright manager also asked UMG to stop using the sample because the lyrics of “Addictive,” in which sexually explicit references were made were potentially offensive to some Indians’ cultural and religious sensibilities.
A federal judge in Los Angeles eventually ruled that “Addictive” must be removed from shelves unless Bollywood composer Bappi Lahiri’s name is added to the credits. He likened the unauthorized sampling of the song by Dr. Dre and Interscope to “cultural imperialism.” The case was settled in 2003.
