Drake Sued Over ‘Janice Stfu’ by Fellow Beyoncé ‘Heated’ Songwriter

Drake is shown in a scene from the official music video for “Janice STFU.” The rapper faces a federal copyright lawsuit alleging he copied the song's chorus from another songwriter's recording. Drake denies the allegations. (Drake/YouTube)

A Grammy-winning songwriter who shares writing credits with Drake on Beyoncé's “Heated” has sued the rapper over one of his biggest hits, alleging that the chorus of “Janice STFU” was taken from a demo he submitted to producers in Drake's circle months before the song was released.
Aviel Calev Hirschfield, a Portland, Oregon, producer who records as GoodbyeCalev, filed the copyright infringement lawsuit Friday in federal court in Los Angeles against Drake, OVO Sound, UMG Recordings and Universal Music Publishing.

Drake's representatives emphatically deny the allegations.

The dispute centers on eight lines Hirschfield says he wrote and recorded in January for a song he hoped Drake would perform. According to the complaint, he sent the finished recording to several producers who had worked with the rapper, including the production duo FnZ, but received no response.

Then came May 15.

Hirschfield says he was listening to Drake's newly released album, “Iceman,” when he heard “Janice STFU” and immediately recognized the chorus.

The lyrics, melody and cadence were identical to his recording, he alleges.

The lawsuit places an unusually detailed account of the song's creation at the center of the dispute, including a drive to Seattle, a Lykke Li recording and digital files that Hirschfield says establish when his vocals were recorded.

Hirschfield alleges that hearing Li's 2011 song “I Follow Rivers” inspired him to develop a new chorus with Drake in mind. Working over an instrumental supplied by FnZ members Michael Mulé and Isaac De Boni, he completed the recording around Jan. 25.

“Janice STFU” also interpolates “I Follow Rivers,” but the complaint concerns Hirschfield's claimed original lyrics and vocal melody, not ownership of Li's song.

Drake's official music video for "Janice STFU," released May 15, 2026. A songwriter alleges that the song's chorus was copied from his earlier recording. Drake denies the claim. (Drake/YouTube)

After the release, Hirschfield's representatives supplied Drake's team with the recording and individual audio tracks, known as stems, containing metadata that he contends establishes when the work was created.

Rather than acknowledge his contribution, Hirschfield alleges, Drake's representatives questioned the authenticity of that metadata and sent a cease-and-desist letter demanding that he stop publicly claiming authorship.

Drake's camp tells a very different story.

“These allegations are categorically, unequivocally, and completely denied,” a representative told TMZ.

The representative said Drake wrote the song himself and had no knowledge of Hirschfield, calling the lawsuit an attempt to exploit the rapper's success.

That denial raises an important distinction in Hirschfield's account: Although he and Drake are both credited as writers on “Heated,” from Beyoncé's 2022 album “Renaissance,” the lawsuit does not claim Hirschfield personally delivered the disputed recording to Drake.

Instead, Hirschfield alleges that Drake had access to it through producers who received the demo.

Their connection through “Heated” is documented. Hirschfield told Portland's Willamette Week in 2023 that his manager had circulated one of his tracks before Beyoncé selected it for her album.

Another detail could become important as the case progresses.

Drake previewed an early version of what became “Janice STFU” during a September 2025 livestream, months before Hirschfield says he finished his chorus. That earlier version, titled “That's Just How I Feel,” did not appear to contain the eight disputed lines, according to a transcription published at the time.

Whether Hirschfield's recording reached Drake's collaborators, and when the disputed chorus took its final form, remain central unanswered questions.

The stakes are substantial. “Janice STFU” debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and spent two weeks atop the chart. The lawsuit says the recording has surpassed 300 million Spotify streams.

Hirschfield is seeking damages and profits attributable to the alleged infringement, along with attorney fees. He has not specified a dollar amount.

His recording was registered with the U.S. Copyright Office effective July 21, more than two months after Drake released the song. That timing could restrict the availability of certain statutory damages and attorney fees under federal copyright law, although it does not by itself resolve the infringement claim.

The lawsuit does not seek an order removing the song from streaming platforms.

Chance Wins Legal Battle Over Merchandise Profits as Drakeo’s Estate Settles Death Case

Chance the Rapper performs at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado on May 2, 2017. A Chicago judge ruled Tuesday that his former manager breached his fiduciary duties in connection with the rapper's merchandise business. (Photo by Julio Enriquez, CC BY 2.0; cropped for display)

A Chicago judge has ordered Chance the Rapper's former manager to surrender undisclosed merchandise commissions, while the estate of slain Los Angeles rapper Drakeo the Ruler has reached a settlement with festival organizers and security companies sued over his 2021 death.

A Chicago judge has ordered Chance the Rapper's former manager to surrender undisclosed merchandise commissions, while the estate of slain Los Angeles rapper Drakeo the Ruler has reached a settlement with festival organizers and security companies sued over his 2021 death.

The unrelated cases mark significant developments in two long-running hip-hop legal battles. Neither has produced a publicly established final payout: The amount Chance's former manager must forfeit remains under review, and the terms of Drakeo's estate settlement have not been disclosed.

Chance wins ruling over merchandise profits

Chance the Rapper has won another round in his nearly six-year legal fight with Patrick "Pat the Manager" Corcoran, the former friend who helped guide his rise from Chicago's independent rap scene to Grammy-winning success.

Cook County Circuit Judge James E. Hanlon Jr. ruled Tuesday that Corcoran breached his fiduciary duties by collecting undisclosed commissions from merchandise vendors while also receiving management fees tied to the same business.

Hanlon ordered Corcoran to surrender those commissions, forfeit the 15% management compensation associated with the affected merchandise transactions and transfer the ChanceRaps.com domain to the rapper by Oct. 28.

Chance's representatives estimate the forfeited management fees could total as much as $1.5 million, in addition to the vendor payments. The figure is not a final court award.

The parties have until Nov. 30 to agree on an amount. If they cannot, the judge will decide.

The ruling follows a March jury verdict that rejected Corcoran's demand for $3.8 million in unpaid commissions and royalties. The jury also found in Chance's favor on portions of his countersuit, awarding him $35.

The two worked together from 2012 until their relationship collapsed in 2020, building one of hip-hop's most prominent independent success stories without a traditional written management agreement.

Their dispute eventually turned on what Corcoran was owed after his dismissal and whether he had put his own business interests ahead of the artist's.

The latest ruling was not an across-the-board victory for Chance.

Hanlon rejected his attempts to recover compensation connected to several outside ventures, including the Ramova Theatre and UnitedMasters. The judge also declined to award punitive damages or strip Corcoran of all the compensation he earned during the relationship.

Corcoran's attorneys welcomed those limits, arguing that the court recognized the value of his work and rejected the rapper's broader financial demands.

Chance, whose legal name is Chancelor Bennett, said he was grateful to be nearing the end of the dispute and hoped to eventually share his account of what happened.

Drakeo's estate settles festival death lawsuit

In Los Angeles, a separate legal fight over the killing of Drakeo the Ruler has reached a conditional settlement nearly five years after the rapper was fatally stabbed backstage at a music festival.

A notice filed Oct. 9 in Los Angeles Superior Court confirms that Drakeo's estate, administered by his mother, Darrylene Corniel, reached an agreement with Live Nation and several other companies involved in the Once Upon a Time in L.A. festival.

The settlement resolves the estate's claims, subject to specified conditions being completed within 45 days. No financial terms have been disclosed.

Drakeo, born Darrell Wayne Caldwell Jr., was 28 when he was attacked backstage on Dec. 18, 2021, shortly before he was scheduled to perform.

His estate accused the festival promoters and security contractors of failing to maintain a secure backstage area and allowing a group of attackers to reach the rapper and his entourage.

The defendants disputed the negligence allegations. The settlement does not constitute a court finding that they were responsible for his death.

The agreement also does not end all the civil litigation arising from the attack.

Claims involving Drakeo's younger brother, rapper Ralfy the Plug, and others who were backstage remain scheduled for trial Nov. 30.

The criminal investigation remains unresolved. No one has been charged with Drakeo's killing.

The estate's agreement settles a major part of the civil case, but it does not establish who killed the rapper or whether the remaining plaintiffs will prevail against the festival organizers.

Drakeo the Ruler's "Talk to Me," featuring Drake, appeared on his 2021 album The Truth Hurts. (Drakeo the Ruler/YouTube)

Man Convicted in Tupac Shakur’s Murder Gets 40 Years to Life, Three Decades After Killing

Duane “Keffe D” Davis is shown in a Sept. 29, 2023, police booking photograph. Davis was sentenced Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026, to 40 years to life in prison for orchestrating the 1996 murder of rapper Tupac Shakur. (Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department)

Duane “Keffe D” Davis spent years publicly describing his role in the 1996 killing of Tupac Shakur. On Tuesday, the former gang leader was sentenced to 40 years to life in prison for orchestrating the murder, bringing a measure of justice to the rapper's family more than three decades after the fatal shooting.

Clark County District Judge Carli Kierny imposed the sentence in Las Vegas, six weeks after a jury convicted Davis of first-degree murder with the use of a deadly weapon.

Davis, 63, was the only person ever charged in the killing, one of hip-hop's most enduring unsolved crimes until his arrest in September 2023.

Duane “Keffe D” Davis appears in court in Las Vegas on Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026, for sentencing in the 1996 murder of Tupac Shakur. Davis was sentenced to 40 years to life in prison. (Video: Courtroom Insider/YouTube)

Shakur's family addressed the court before sentencing, recalling a brother whose life had been cut short at 25.

His younger sister, Sekyiwa “Set” Shakur, described their mother's belief that Tupac could change the world.

“He believed her,” she told the court. “He went out in the world to do that. And I believe he would have done it.”

Their brother Maurice “Mopreme” Shakur spoke about everything Tupac never experienced, including the opportunity to have children and watch his nieces and nephews grow up.

For the family, the punishment followed 30 years of living with the consequences of a killing that became part of hip-hop history even as their personal loss remained unresolved.

Kierny rejected Davis' argument that he had left his violent past behind.

“You don't get to take a man from his family,” the judge told him. “The world never forgot about him.”

Davis will receive credit for time served since his arrest. His attorney, Michael Sanft, said he plans to appeal the conviction.

When offered an opportunity to speak, Davis did not apologize. Instead, he asked about recovering personal belongings seized by police, including photographs.

TUPAC SHAKUR MURDER CASE

30 years to a sentence

Sept. 7, 1996
Tupac Shakur is shot in Las Vegas. He dies six days later.

Sept. 29, 2023
Duane Davis is arrested and charged in the killing.

Aug. 31, 2026
A jury convicts Davis of first-degree murder.

Oct. 13, 2026
Davis is sentenced to 40 years to life.

Sources: Clark County court records and AP and Reuters reporting.

The prosecution had built much of its case around Davis' own accounts of the shooting, including interviews, statements to investigators and his 2019 memoir, “Compton Street Legend.”

Prosecutors argued that Davis organized a retaliatory attack after Shakur and members of his entourage assaulted Davis' nephew, Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson, at the MGM Grand following a Mike Tyson boxing match on Sept. 7, 1996.

Hours later, Shakur was riding in a BMW driven by Death Row Records co-founder Marion “Suge” Knight when a white Cadillac pulled alongside the car near the Las Vegas Strip.

Someone inside the Cadillac opened fire.

Shakur was struck multiple times. Knight survived with a minor injury, but Shakur died six days later, on Sept. 13.

Davis acknowledged being inside the Cadillac and described passing a gun toward the back seat, where the shots were fired. Prosecutors said he supplied the weapon and directed the retaliation, making him criminally responsible for the murder even though he was not accused of pulling the trigger.

His attorneys maintained that his public accounts had been exaggerated or fabricated for publicity and financial gain. They also challenged the absence of physical evidence connecting Davis to the shooting.

The jury rejected that defense after a trial that revisited gang rivalries, the East Coast-West Coast rap feud and a murder investigation that remained dormant for years.

The identity of the person who fired the fatal shots has never been conclusively established in court. Anderson, whom Davis identified as the gunman, died in 1998. The other alleged occupants of the Cadillac are also dead.

For millions of listeners, Shakur remains the artist behind “Dear Mama,” “Keep Ya Head Up,” “California Love” and “Changes,” records that helped establish his voice as one of the most influential in rap.

For his family, he was a son and brother whose future disappeared on a Las Vegas street.

Davis' sentence establishes the punishment for his role in that killing. His planned appeal means the legal proceedings may continue.

But Tuesday's hearing marked a consequence his own public accounts of the murder helped bring about: After nearly three decades without a prosecution, the only man convicted in Tupac Shakur's death now faces at least 40 years in prison before becoming eligible for parole.