An Outkast-affiliate is reportedly suing NLE Choppa for sampling a song from 1997 on his debut album, Top Shotta, as well as borrowing the flow from the original song without prior permission or clearance.
According to court documents acquired by Music Business Worldwide, NLE Choppa’s 2020 song “Make Em Say” featuring Latto sounds very similar to Kilo Ali’s 1997 track, “Love In Ya Mouth,” featuring Big Boi. Ali, who worked with Big Boi, Cee-Lo Green, and several other artists from that era, claims that Choppa’s “Make Em Say” uses his song’s “flow and pitch of the post-chorus.”
Ali also claims that the song’s lyrics and meaning infringe on the meaning and lyrics of his original work.
“Further, the lyrics of the chorus and post-chorus of the Infringing Work resemble the lyrics of the chorus of the Original Work in word, sound, and meaning, which invoke the heart of the Original Work,” the lawsuit reads.
The legal documents go on to claim that since NLE Choppa has not provided any form of attribution to Ali for the original work, he is demanding “all gains, profits, and advantages derived by Defendants as a result of their unfair trade practices and unfair competition, as well as all gains, profits, and advantages derived by Defendants as a result of their infringement of Plaintiff’s copyright.”
NLE Choppa and his team have not yet responded to the lawsuit, and it is still unclear how this will move forward in court and what the outcome will be. You can read the court documents in their entirety here.
