R&B inspires Dancehall: Ne-Yo’s 'Miss Independent' vs Vybz Kartel’s 'Romping Shop'

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Ne-Yo's 'Miss Independent' vs Vybz Kartel's 'Romping Shop'

Dareem Scipio*


R&B and Dancehall usually produce two completely different musical vibes. However, a different picture comes to mind when you hear the names ‘Ne-Yo’ and ‘Vybz Kartel’. When it comes to a comparison of the two popular hits, ‘Miss Independent’ and ‘Romping Shop’ (viewer discretion advised, censored version here), performed by Ne-Yo and Vybz Kartel respectively, it is clear that the two performers share a strikingly similar musical taste for the aforementioned songs.

 

A quick listen to both songs immediately reveal substantial similarity in the melody and beat. A musicologist is not required to make the claim that the two songs are substantially similar for copyright purposes. In the music world, this ‘borrowing’ can be either sampling or interpolation. ‘Sampling’ involves taking part of an existing sound recording and incorporating it into another sound recording. Whereas ‘interpolation’ involves the re-recording of the musical or literary work.


Although now commonplace in the music industry, if not done properly with the required due diligence, sampling and/or interpolation may result in copyright infringement.

 

Not surprisingly, the striking similarity between ‘Miss Independent’ and ‘Romping Shop’ did not go without controversy. It is reported that following the release of Romping Shop and its quick ascent of the Billboard Charts, Vybz Kartel and his production team became the recipients of more than one cease and desist letter from EMI demanding that the song be destroyed and pulled from all media for its alleged infringement of the copyright in Miss Independent.[1] The situation eventually led to Vybz Kartel changing the riddim of the song and re-releasing it (albeit producing the same aural effect).[2]

 

Even though a legal battle was avoided (see Ne-Yo's thoughts here), this situation nevertheless underscores the importance of due diligence when sampling and/or interpolating the works of others. Ideally, permission should always be sought from the owner(s) of the work from which inspiration or beyond is gained to avoid any claims of copyright infringement later on. The ‘Blurred Lines’ case brought by the estate of Marvin Gaye against Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke[3] has made this area of the law both topical and controversial in the US, and perhaps if this situation were to happen today or in other genres, the result and approach would be different a la Ice Ice Baby between Vanilla Ice and Queen (see Vanilla Ice's thoughts here, here and here.

 

Indeed, the adage that prevention is better than a cure applies here because defending copyright infringement allegations can be a very lengthy and costly endeavour, just ask Ed Sheeran among others.[4]


* Author can be contacted at studentscipio@gmail.com

[1] Claudia Gardner, ‘NotNice refutes Ne-Yo’s claim that he supported Kartel, Spice’s ‘Romping Shop’ from day one. DancehallMag (2022) available at  <https://www.dancehallmag.com/2022/09/13/news/notnice-refutes-ne-yos-claims-that-he-supported-kartel-spices-romping-shop-from-day-one.html>. 

[2] Ibid.

[3] Williams et al v Gaye et al (2018) 895 F 3d 1106.

[4] Sheeran et al v Chokri et al [2022] EWHC 827 (Ch) and Structured Asset Sales v Sheeran et al (2023) 673 F Supp 3d 415. 

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