R&B singer Chris Brown is facing allegations he cut a songwriter out of credit and compensation on his two songs “Monalisa” and “Sensational.”
In a new lawsuit filed Wednesday in Manhattan federal court, Steve Chokpelle claims he was at Brown’s Los Angeles home with Sean Kingston in 2020 when Brown asked him to compose lyrics for “Monalisa,” a track purportedly released on June 4, 2021. Though the lawsuit doesn’t mention it, a 2022 “Monalisa” remix from Nigerian musicians Lojay and Sarz that also featured Brown eventually peaked at Number Eight on Billboard’s U.S. Afrobeats Songs chart.
In his complaint, Chokpelle also alleges he penned the lyrics for the follow-up track “Sensational” in 2021, and that after Brown heard a demo, he decided to cut it himself. According to Chokpelle, Brown recorded, mixed, and mastered his own version featuring Lojay, which landed on Brown’s 2023 album 11:11. The track, which listed Kingston and Lojay as co-authors, climbed to Number One on Billboard’s R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart and peaked at Number 71 on the Hot 100. The lawsuit alleges “Sensational” generated more than $1 million in revenue, but Chokpelle says he didn’t see a dime.
Chokpelle claims Brown deprived him of proper credit for the songs and “his properly entitled compensation flowing from his role as author/owner of the lyrics.” He’s now asking for a court order declaring him an author and copyright owner of the two songs, and seeking damages from Brown, Kingston, Sony Music Entertainment, and Universal Music Publishing Group.
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Attempts to reach reps for the defendants were not immediately successful.
“Defendants sustained a tremendous benefit, and shall continue to receive tremendous benefit, by earnings millions in revenues, acclaim, accolades, and goodwill, from the commercial exploitation of ‘Monalisa’ and ‘Sensational,’” the 13-page lawsuit filed by Chokpelle and his lawyer Simon J. Rosen, reads. “Chokpelle is entitled to a full, discrete accounting of all revenues earned by [Brown] from the commercial exploitation of the subject songs, from inception through current, and ongoing into the future.”
