Chris Brown is facing a lawsuit from songwriter Steve Chokpelle, who claims he has not received his share of “millions in revenues” generated by two tracks.
The rapper has been accused of excluding Chokpelle from compensation and credit for the songs Monalisa and Sensational.
In a lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court on Wednesday, Chokpelle alleged that he wrote the lyrics to Monalisa in 2020 during a studio session with Brown and singer Sean Kingston at Brown’s home in California.
According to court documents, the songwriter said he was not credited on the track – a collaboration between Brown, Lojay and Sarz – despite its commercial success. Monalisa peaked at number eight on Billboard’s US Afrobeats Songs chart, and Chokpelle claims he “never received any compensation”.
Chokpelle also alleged that he wrote the lyrics for Sensational in 2021 alongside producer Onyekachi Emenalo, known professionally as Krazytunez, before sharing the song with Brown. The track went on to top Billboard’s Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart and according to the lawsuit, generated more than $1 million (£730,000) in revenue.
While Chokpelle is listed as a composer in the song’s credits, the lawsuit claims he was deliberately excluded from the copyright registration and has received “no revenues whatsoever”.
The lawsuit alleges that Brown “sustained tremendous benefit” from both songs and “shall continue to receive tremendous benefit, by (earning) millions in revenues, acclaim, accolades and goodwill from the commercial exploitation of Monalisa and Sensational.”
It continued, “As a result of defendants’ failure to acknowledge plaintiff’s authorship and copyright ownership interests, and by their failure to compensate plaintiff, defendants have been unjustly enriched.”
Chokpelle is seeking to be formally recognised as an author and co-copyright owner of both tracks, as well as at least $1 million (£730,000) in damages. The lawsuit names Brown, Kingston, Sony Music Entertainment and Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) as defendants.
Representatives for Brown have not yet commented, and Kingston is currently serving a federal prison sentence following an unrelated fraud conviction.
