Chris Brown has reached a “settlement in principle” with a lyricist who claimed he was cut out of millions in revenues from Brown’s hit songs Sensational and Monalisa.
According to a new court filing obtained by Rolling Stone, the plaintiff, Steve Chokpelle, noted that the agreement would resolve all his claims against Brown and Universal Music Group, effectively removing them from the royalties lawsuit.
Terms were not disclosed.
“The parties have reached a settlement in principle that will resolve plaintiff’s claims against defendants, as well as co-defendant Chris Brown, in their entirety,” the filing reads.
Chokpelle filed his complaint in February, claiming he was at the R&B singer’s Los Angeles home with fellow musician Sean Kingston in 2020 when Brown allegedly asked him to compose lyrics for a 2021 track titled Monalisa.
In his complaint, Chokpelle also alleged he penned the lyrics for the follow-up track, Sensational. The track, which listed Kingston and Nigerian singer Lojay as co-authors, climbed to Number One on Billboard’s R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart. The lawsuit alleged it generated more than $1 million (£750,000) in revenue.
Chokpelle claimed 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 asked for a court order declaring him an author and copyright owner of the two songs and sought damages from Brown, Kingston and Universal Music, among others.
Chokpelle is still pursuing his related claims against Kingston, who has not yet answered the complaint. Kingston is currently serving a 42-month prison sentence after he was convicted of fraud.
