Ghanaian rapper, Michael Elliott Kwabena Okyere Darko, known in showbiz circles as Obrafour will be smiling to the bank if he wins his case against Canadian rapper Drake.
He is using Drake for $10, 000, 000 for sampling his 2003 remix of ‘Oye Ohene’ for his song ‘Calling My Name’.
In the writ of summons presented to a court in New York, Obrafour states that Drake infringed on his copyright when he sampled his song without permission.
“Defendants released the Infringing Work on June 17, 2022, despite the fact that an agent of one or more Defendants had previously contacted Obrafour seeking to obtain Obrafour’s permission for the use of the Copyrighted Work in the Infringing Work.”
“Obrafour never granted Defendants permission to use the Copyrighted Work and the Infringing work was released mere days later,” parts of the document read.
The Ghanaian rapper indicated that Drake and other defendants following the release of ‘Calling My Name’ has greatly benefited from his work.
The portion of Obrafour’s ‘Oye Ohene’ remix that Drake sampled is not a melody; it is the introductory chant done by Nii Mantse Aryeequaye.
The writ mentions that: “in the Sampled Phrase from the Copyrighted Work, a male voice with a distinct tone and accent is heard energetically repeating the following phrase: “Killer cut, blood, killer cut.” The phrase incorporates use of slang terms universally associated with hip-hop culture. In this lexicon, the Sampled Phrase can be understood as approximately saying, “Great song, brother, great song.”
“The copying of the Sampled Phrase in the Infringing Work is so direct in nature that the audio of the Sampled Phrase heard in the Infringing Work contains little or no audible manipulation, processing, or other alteration to its original character as heard in the Copyrighted,” it further reads.
It explains that “Killer,” used in this context, means “great.” A “cut” is a colloquial way of referring to a song or piece of music, deriving from the analogue era of music recording where music was primarily recorded to reels of tape that would be cut. “Blood” is a term of endearment or affection meaning “brother.”
However, a quick search on the internet for the lyrics of Drake’s ‘Calling My Name’, actually has “killa cop, blood” instead of “killer cut, blood.”
In the meantime, Nii Mantse Aryeequaye, who owns the voice of that intro has written on Twitter that Obrafour does not own the right to the portion of the song for which he has sued Drake.
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