Mantse Aryeequaye sues Obrafour, Hammer over Oye Ohene’s ‘Killer cut’ 

Mantse Aryeequaye, founder of popular street festival ‘Chalewote Street Art Festival’ has instituted legal proceedings against renowned Ghanaian rapper Obrafour and music producer, Dave Hammer for allegedly claiming sole ownership of the famous ‘killer cut blood’ phrase.

It will be recalled that the ownership of the phrase, used in Obrafour’s track Oye Ohene, came under serious scrutiny after the rapper sued Canadian artiste, Drake for using it in his track without his (Obrafour) permission.

Mantse in the new suit, accused Obrafour of claiming ownership of the phrase and copyrighting it in the US in September 2022. He stated that “his artistic work, in the form of a spoken word titled “Killer Cut”, was used on the song ‘Oye Ohene’ by 1st defendant (Obrafour) with permission, but without transfer of any rights, nor permission to 1 defendant to register the work as his own, or receive any payments from its subsequent use by anyone in any form.”

He added that “the “Killer Cut” which was used by the 1st Defendant in his song, is separate and distinct from the song recorded by Defendants. It was recorded separately and subsequently infused into the 1st Defendant’s song by the 2nd Defendant (Hammer), mainly to enhance/improve the song.”

According to Mantse, after knowing of Drake’s request to use that part of the ‘Oye Ohene’ track, he called for a meeting with both Obrafour and Hammer, however, none of his requests materialised. He asserted further that he later found out Obrafour had registered the track with the phrase inclusive in the US “robbing him (Mantse) of his intellectual property and seeking to receive payment for plaintiff’s work exclusively.”

The Chalewote founder called the rapper’s actions malicious with “clear nefarious intent” to divert and use royalties belonging to him.

He insists that he owns the intellectual property of ‘killer cut’ and thus, he is praying the court to declare so.

In addition, he is calling on the court to restrain Obrafour from demanding and receiving payment for ‘killer cut’. Mantse is also praying to the court to order Hammer to not only relinquish all his works to him but, also submit a record of all his works (with Hammer), including ones that have been used in other tracks.

Among other things, he is also demanding “general damages against 1st defendant for misappropriating Plaintiff’s work and actively seeking to profit from it whilst evading all calls and efforts to rectify his duplicitous conduct” and “costs including full indemnity for legal costs which could have been avoided.”

Meanwhile, although the suit was filed in July 2023, Mantse in a Facebook post revealed that Hammer and Obrafour had been ev ading being served by the court’s bailiff. As such, his lawyers applied for an Order of Substitution, allowing them to serve the two on their personal WhatsApp, Facebook, and Notice Board of the High Court, Accra