Flo Milli is dealing with a copyright lawsuit over her hit 2023 track “By no means Lose Me,” which allegedly sampled a beat that had been completely licensed to a person in Baltimore 4 years earlier.
The Friday (June 27) lawsuit targets Flo Milli (Tamia Monique Carter) over “By no means Lose Me,” which peaked at No. 15 on the Billboard Scorching 100, in addition to Detroit rappers Babyface Ray (Marcellus Rayvon Register) and 42 Dugg (Dion Marquise Hayes) for his or her 2023 track “Ron Artest,” which Milli sampled on “By no means.”
A person named Shamar Deal, who describes himself as a Baltimore, Md.-based songwriter and recording artist, claims that each “By no means Lose Me” and “Ron Artest” infringe his unique license to a beat known as “Youu” by the producer Gerreaux Katana.
In keeping with the lawsuit, Deal purchased “Youu” from Katana by way of the rap instrumental market Traktrain in 2019. Deal says he was granted an unique license to the beat that was speculated to final 10 years.
However Katana allegedly violated this settlement in 2023 by re-licensing “Youu” to Babyface Ray and 42 Dugg, who used it as the inspiration for “Ron Artest.” Deal says Flo Milli then sampled “Ron Artest” for “By no means Lose Me,” repeating the Detroit rappers’ supposed infringement.
“As plaintiff at the moment holds the unique proper to the composition, the incorporation of the composition in ‘Ron Artest’ and ‘By no means Lose Me’ constitutes copyright infringement of Deal’s unique rights within the composition monitor,” writes Deal’s legal professional Larry Zerner. “Deal brings the present lawsuit to get well damages for the violation of his copyright.”
Deal is looking for no less than $1 million from Flo Milli, Babyface Ray, 42 Dugg and Katana. He additionally names EMPIRE and Sony Music Leisure as defendants, saying the businesses distributed the 2 songs at challenge.
“By no means Lose Me” was a chart success in 2023 and 2024, additionally climbing to No. 2 on Billboard‘s Rhythmic Airplay, No. 5 on Scorching Rap Songs, No. 6 on Scorching R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and No. 7 on Streaming Songs.
The monitor has generated 947.5 million on-demand official streams globally, with 531.3 million of these in the USA, in accordance with information from Luminate.
Billboard reached out to all of the defendants or their reps for touch upon the lawsuit Friday, however didn’t instantly obtain any responses.
