French Montana Denies Ripping Off Struggling Rapper in 'All The Way Up' Legal Battle With Remy Ma
By Ryan Naumann on September 17, 2019 at 8:10 AM EDT
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French Montana denies he ripped off a Florida rapper with his hit “All The Way Up”.
According to court documents obtained by The Blast, French Montana is demanding to be let out of a lawsuit over the track. The rapper was sued, along with Remy Ma and Fat Joe, by a rapper named Fly Havana.
In his motion, Montana admits when he went to record the track he was presented with “a reference track, containing unfinished music and unfinished lyrics, and added to the work to create the final released version.”
He denies the “allegation that Kharbouch (Montana) had no role in writing the part he raps because Kharbouch did have a role.”
The rapper argues, “Plaintiff’s claims are barred to the extent it has forfeited or abandoned its intellectual property.” He denies all allegations of wrongdoing. Montana is asking the judge to dismiss all claims against him.
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Earlier this year, Montana, Remy Ma and Fat Joe were hit with legal papers by Fly Havana.
He accused the trio of ripping him off with their hit song “All The Way Up”. The rapper claimed to have created the track in 2015. Laying down the beats in just five hours, Havana claims his "unfinished version" of the track is "identical to the released version," noting similarities in musical composition, lyrical composition, vocal melody, rhythmic flow and sound recording.
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In his suit, Havana says his co-producer, Infared, was friendly with Fat Joe and introduced him to the song before alleging Joe went silent after hearing the track. Havana claims he never heard back from Infared, and was shocked when Fat Joe released the song in 2016 with French Montana and Remy Ma.
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The song peaked at #27 on the Billboard Hot 100 list and sold over 2 million copies in the U.S.
Havana accuses Joe of promising payment and giving him the run around, and even claims Joe "threatened" him to keep quiet about the true origin of the song.
Havana claims he later did meet up with Joe and was given a check for $5,000, with alleged promises of more to come, but that never happened. Havana is suing Joe, French and Remy, demanding his share of the profits.
