Drake sued over identical song chorus claim
The glittering world of pop music often hides complex legal battles over creative ownership, and the recent high-profile lawsuit involving Drake’s mega-hit “Janice STFU” is a prime example of this tension between fame and copyright.
A new legal complaint has been filed alleging that Drake used a songwriter’s demo without credit or compensation for the hook of the chart-topping single. The case brings into focus the often-unseen details of how music is created, distributed, and owned in the digital age.
The lawsuit was initiated by Gregory Korn and Jonathan Steinsapir of Kinsella Holley Iser Kump Steinsapir. They claim that the chorus of Drake’s hit song is “literally identical” to a demo provided by composer Aviel Calev Hirschfield to Drake’s team at the beginning of 2026.
“Janice STFU” achieved massive success, spending two weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 and establishing Drake’s longest-running reign on the Hot Rap Songs chart. The dispute centers on whether this massive success reflects Drake’s originality or the uncredited contribution of a collaborator.
Hirschfield claims he created the demo in late 2025 and early 2026, building upon audio beds received from Drake collaborators like Michael “Finatik” Mulé and Isaac “Zac” De Boni. He further asserts that he wrote the song specifically for Drake, recalling previous collaborations on tracks like Beyoncé’s “Heated.”
The complaint alleges that when the song was released, the hook was an exact replication of Hirschfield’s demo, featuring lyrics such as: “Reach me, baby/ Call my phone and say you need me, baby/ I’m so green, you gotta teach me, baby/ From Vancouver, you a BC, baby/ Pull up Maybach, beep beep, baby/ And my shit came with the heat seats, baby/ Swear my label gotta free me, baby/ Blow on me just like some green tea, baby.”
Hirschfield contends that despite sending the finished demo to collaborators, he never received a reply. He alleges that Drake’s representatives refused to acknowledge his authorship, suggesting that the metadata in the recording files was manipulated to falsely imply that the copyrighted work preceded the release of “Janice STFU.”
The lawsuit seeks not only a co-writer credit and publishing splits for the song but also a share of the profits, arguing that Drake has unjustly taken the reputational benefits and compensation due to Hirschfield for his contribution to the hit.
In response to the claims, Drake’s team issued a firm statement, firmly denying the allegations. They maintained that the claims are entirely fabricated, lacking any credible factual support, and asserted that Drake wrote the song entirely on his own with no connection to the composer.
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