Drake and Chris Brown are once again facing copyright infringement allegations over their hit song “No Guidance.”
According to Music Business Worldwide, artists Tykeiya Dore and Marc Stephens are suing Breezy and Drizzy for at least $5 million over claims that “No Guidance” stole from their 2016 track “I Got It.”
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The lawsuit, filed in New Jersey, alleges that Brown, Drake and other songwriters behind “No Guidance” took the main lyric from “I Got It” and changed it to “You got it,” using “the same chord progressions, tempo, pitch, key, melody, harmony, rhythm, structure, phrasing, and lyrics” as Dore and Stephen’s original track.
The complaint argues that “it’s impossible to not hear the two songs are substantially similar” and cites a since-deleted YouTube video comparing the two tracks.
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In addition to Chris Brown and Drake, the lawsuit also names co-writers Velous, Nija Charles and Michee Lebrun as defendants, as well as and producers Noah “40” Shebib, Vinylz, J-Louis and Teddy Walton.
Brown’s label RCA Records, along with several music publishers tied to “No Guidance,” are also named.
The suit claims that “I Got It” came to the attention of Vinylz through Benji Filmz’ YouTube Channel, while Nija Charles received a copy of the song from Tikeiya’s uncle, Jesse Spruils.
After the release of “No Guidance,” Spruils allegedly confronted Charles about her “stealing the chorus of [Tikeiya and Stephens’] song,” but never told Tikeiya about it because he felt “incompetent, humiliated and embarrassed.”
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In an unusual move, the lawsuit also requests damages from YouTube and parent companies Alphabet and Google for defamation against Stephens in a dispute over a YouTube takedown notice.
Stephens claims that YouTube deleted his channel earlier this year after he filed a takedown request over “No Guidance,” with the company expressing concerns that “some of the info in [his] takedown request may be fraudulent.”
YouTube reinstated his channel two months later after Stephens threatened to sue the company for defamation.
“No Guidance” was previously at the center of a separate copyright lawsuit back in 2021, although that suit was eventually dropped.
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In their lawsuit, Braindon Cooper and Timothy Valentine claimed “No Guidance” stole elements from their 2016 track “I Love Your Dress.”
Among other alleged similarities, the accusers pointed out that that each song featured the phrase “you got it” during the hook.
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Brown and Drake, who was later dismissed as a defendant, called the claims “baseless.”
Cooper and Valentine eventually agreed to drop the lawsuit in August 2022, although no terms of the apparent settlement were made public.
