Mantse Aryeequaye, the man whose voice chanted the phrase “Killa cut blood” on Obrafour’s “Oye Ohene” remix hit song is claiming ownership of the chant against Obrafour’s decision to sue Canadian rapper Drake for sampling the voice for his ‘Calling My Name’ track off his 2022 ‘Honestly Nevermind’ album.
The Legendary rapper sued Drake for $10 million, after Drake sampled his song on his track, Calling My Name.
He accused Drake of sampling his song without his permission. He sued in a New York court indicating Drake infringed on his copyright when he sampled his song without permission.
The “Oye Ohene” remix is a 2003 classic off Obrafour’s Ntete Pa album. The part of the song sampled by Drake was sung by Mantse Aryeequaye as an opener to the track.
In a series of tweets directed at Drake, Mantse suggested he is the sole owner of the phrase ‘Killa cut blood’ on Obrafour’s ‘Oye Ohene’ remix.
He stated that he did not relinquish his rights to Obrafour and Da’ Hammer, producer of the track and thus not only can Obrafour not claim sole ownership of the sample but he also cannot be given sole compensation.
“I Mantse Aryeequaye maintain my intellectual property rights and claim over all my artistic works including the “Killer Cut” sound you sampled off “Oye Ohene” remix used on Obrafuor’s album My lawyer Kofi Bentil esq. of Lex Praxis Incorporated kbentil@lexpraxis.net who is pursuing this matter has informed me of a lawsuit against you solely in the name of @IamObrafuor,” he wrote.
“This is to confirm I [Mantse Aryeequaye] insist that although @IamObrafuor has an interest in the matter, he is not the owner of the right, and cannot assert it, definitely not alone, or make any demands for sole compensation for its use,” he noted.
He stated that he was disappointed in Obrafour for seeking sole compensation adding “would be good to tell the public the truth about this matter or I will be forced to lay out how you’ve never paid a dime for any of my works on your songs over the last 20yrs.”