"This is a clear infringement" — Clevie accuses Drake of leaking Blue Green Red without clearing sample with him or Steely

Drake recently released 100 Gigs for Your Headtop and made headlines with tracks like It's Up, Housekeeping Knows, and Blue Green Red. However, the track Blue Green Red has recently come under scrutiny after Jamaican dancehall reggae production duo Steely and Clevie accused the rapper of using their When sample without getting clearance for the same.

Clevie spoke about Drizzy releasing the song without sample clearance in an interview with Dancehall Mag dated August 13, 2024. He highlighted that Drizzy uses an interpolation of their track twice in the song, wherein the lyrics state, "What the clock inna London? Yeah, Big Ben."

Commenting on the same, Clevie said:

"They used the melody just in a section, and it was repeated twice. So this is a clear infringement."

However, Clevie acknowledged the fact that Drizzy made efforts to get to them for sample clearance, but it was the responsibility of the record company to get the song cleared.

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"We can’t clear a song without hearing it": Clevie comments on Drake releasing Blue Green Red without sample clearance

In his interview with Dancehall Mag, Clevie spoke about publishers SONY/EMI getting in touch with the Jamaican dancehall reggae production duo to seek clearance for their track When. However, the publishers did not send Drake's Blue Green Red, and Clevie commented on the same, stating:

"We can’t clear a song without hearing it. But Drake went ahead and leaked it before."

Clevie mentioned that record company Universal Music Group blocked Drake's release initially but went ahead to release the song on August 10, 2024, without getting sample clearance. Clevie said that because the record company did not get the When sample cleared before releasing the song, it could mean problems for them.

Moreover, Clevie also talked about how it is common for music companies to wait until the last moment when it comes to seeking sample clearance. Commenting on this aspect, Clevie told the publication:

“They often wait till the last minute to seek clearance. But we need to know the frequency of how the work is used, so that we can know the level of infringement to evaluate what is reasonable in terms of copyright share."

Additionally, Steely and Clevie have made copyright infringement claims against more than 160 artists and record labels in a California federal court for ripping off their 1989 track Fish Market.

In June 2023, the majority of the defendants, like Pitbull, Diplo, Luis Fonsi, and Daddy Yankee, either co-signed five motions or filed to dismiss the case. For now, the court declined to rule on whether the duo's Fish Market and other derivate works were original for copyright protection, stating more expert testimony and evidence was required for a final decision to be made.

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In other news, Red Blue Green is not the only Drake song that has fallen into trouble recently. Another one of the rapper's latest releases, Supersoak featuring Lil Yachty, also came under the radar as it wasn't cleared for sampling by creator Mr. Hotspot.

However, in a TikTok liverstream, Mr. Hotspot agreed to clearing the sample if Drizzy and Lil Yachty made a kid-friendly and clean version of the song.