Good news for Drake: The Toronto rapper/singer has been dropped from a lawsuit against Chris Brown over their 2019 collaboration “No Guidance,” according to Billboard. The two former foes were sued in October by a pair of songwriters, Mr. Cooper and Drum’n Skillz, who claimed “No Guidance” sounded like their 2016 song, “I Love Your Dress.” The plaintiffs also claimed that a line in “No Guidance” is a subliminal reference to Cooper; in his verse, Drake rhymes, “Flew the coop at 17, no guidance / You be stayin’ low but you know what the vibes is.”
The two stars have asked a judge to dismiss the case, but on Tuesday this week, Cooper and Drum’n Skillz (real names Braindon Cooper and Timothy Valentine) voluntarily moved to dismiss claims against Drake, leaving Brown and Sony Music as the defendants.
In their initial response to the lawsuit, Brown and Drake’s effectively said that Cooper and Valentine were too obscure for them to have ever heard their song. Meanwhile, the plaintiffs fired back, writing, “This argument – essentially that defendants are somehow immune from copyright infringement claims by individuals who are not as famous as they are – is both egotistical and without any legal basis whatsoever. Undoubtedly, regardless of their fame and status, defendants may be, and should be, held accountable for their infringement.”
The suit still must go before a judge, who will decide whether to dismiss the claim or proceed toward a jury trial.
