A recent lawsuit accuses Drake of stealing the hook from his hit song “Janice STFU,” a claim vehemently denied by his team. The legal action, filed on October 16 in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, alleges that the chorus was penned by Aviel (Avi) Hirschfield, a Grammy Award-winning hip-hop artist and producer who had collaborated with Drake in the past.
According to the lawsuit, Hirschfield found inspiration for the lyrics and melody while driving a borrowed Maybach to Seattle and listening to “I Follow Rivers” by Lykke Li, an artist previously sampled by Drake. Hirschfield purportedly recorded a demo with his vocals over a track produced by FnZ, a duo associated with Drake, and shared it with several individuals in hopes it would reach the Toronto rapper.
The lawsuit claims that Hirschfield was shocked to hear Drake perform what he alleges to be the exact same chorus he had recorded and circulated among producers affiliated with Drake. Drake’s team refutes these allegations as baseless.
Comparisons have surfaced online between the leaked version of Hirschfield’s creation and Drake’s official release of “Janice STFU.” Despite the controversy, the track debuted at No. 1 on both the Billboard Global 200 and the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, marking Drake’s 14th chart-topping hit and surpassing Michael Jackson’s record for the most No. 1 hits by a male solo artist.
To address unintended consequences, Drake hosted parties to apologize to individuals named Janice who felt targeted by the song. Hirschfield claims he was not credited as a co-writer and was denied a share of the song’s profits. Drake’s representatives maintain that he has no knowledge of Hirschfield and vehemently deny the allegations, stating that there is no truth to the claims made in the lawsuit.
Universal Music Group, also implicated in the legal action, declined to comment on the matter, citing a policy of not discussing ongoing litigation.