Drake Slapped with $10 Million Lawsuit Over Unauthorized Sample

Canadian rapper Drake accused of sampling a Ghanaian rapper without permission for his dance music album 'Honestly Nevermind...' 

From The Daily Mail

Drake is being sued for $10 million by a Ghanaian rapper who claims that the chart-topper stole one his songs and used it in his own 2022 track Calling My Name without permission.

The Canadian musician, 36, has been named in a lawsuit by artist Obrafour - real name Michael Darko - whose lawyer claims that Drake used an unpermitted sample from the his client's 2003 single, Ohene remix.

Speaking exclusively to DailyMail.com, Obrafour's legal representative Imran H. Ansari from stated: 'It's such a blatant rip and sample from our client’s song. More so, we have as part of the complaint the emails from the woman that clears rights for Drake, reaching out to our client via email and not waiting for him to get the permission.

'Then Drake dropped the sort of secret album, if you will, without getting the right clearances owned by my client.'

Elements of Obrafour’s single feature on the popular track from Drake’s dance album Honestly, Nevermind which had a surprise release on June 17, 2022.

In the new lawsuit filed by Aidala, Bertuna Kamins Legal firm , it is claimed that a member of Drake's team sent an email seeking clearance for the sample in the week before the album's release.

However, Obrafour had not given the rapper - real name Aubrey Drake Graham - permission by the time of release and his attorney stated that the musician had been 'surprised' to see his work featured without permission.

'Quite frankly, it's insulting to an artist who is a musician of some popularity, especially in their home country, who takes pride in the creative work that they have put together,' Ansari argued. 'Only to find out that it's just disregarded in the sense that Drake samples from his work without permission. The emails are indicative that he knew he needed to do so. And he didn't do so.'