Drake and Chris Brown were hit with a $5 million lawsuit over their 2019 single “No Guidance.” According to court documents obtained by AllHipHop, Tykeiya Dore and Marc Stephens sued multiple defendants for copyright infringement in New Jersey on October 25.
The plaintiffs claimed Drake and Brown’s “No Guidance” ripped off Dore’s song “I Got It.” Drake and Brown’s collaboration allegedly used the “same chord progressions, tempo, pitch, key, melody, harmony, rhythm, structure, phrasing, and lyrics” as Dore’s track.
Dore wrote “I Got It” in 2015, published it in 2016 and uploaded it to YouTube in 2017. She registered the song with the U.S. Copyright Office in July 2019, a month after “No Guidance” dropped.
The lawsuit claimed the writers and producers of “No Guidance” accessed “I Got It” because it was uploaded to director Benji Filmz’s YouTube channel. Vinylz, who co-produced “No Guidance,” allegedly kept an eye on Benji’s channel.
“Defendant Anderson Hernandez, professionally known as Vinylz, discovered and obtained access to, Tykeiya’s song ‘I Got It’ and Cardi B’s songs on Benji Filmz YouTube channel,” the lawsuit contended. “In 2018, Vinylz later produced Cardi B’s song ‘Be Careful.’ In 2019, without permission, Tykeiya’s song was ‘I Got It’ was used by Vinlyz for Chris Brown’s song “No Guidance.’”
Dore’s uncle Jesse Spruils allegedly provided a copy of her song to Nija Charles, the co-writer of “No Guidance.” He confronted Charles after “No Guidance” dropped in 2019. Dore wasn’t aware of what her uncle did until 2024.
“Defendant Chris Brown’s song ‘No Guidance’ was released and Plaintiff’s uncle contacted Nija Charles to confront her about stealing the chorus of Plaintiff’s song ‘I Got It,’” the lawsuit read. “Defendant Nija Charles blocked Plaintiff’s uncle from her social media accounts. Plaintiff’s uncle felt incompetent, humiliated and embarrassed that he allowed the song ‘I Got It’ to be copied without being compensated, so he never told Plaintiff Tykeiya about it. It wasn’t until Plaintiff Tykeiya hired Marc Stephens, on May 21, 2024, that Plaintiff Tykeiya discovered that her uncle knew about Defendant Nija Charles and Vinlyz having access to her song.”
The lawsuit also targeted YouTube and Google for wrongfully taking down a copyright infringement comparison video uploaded by Stephens. The plaintiffs sued YouTube and Google for unjust enrichment, defamation, common law fraud and emotional distress, among other claims.