{"id":9430,"date":"2026-02-05T06:04:41","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T06:04:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/?post_type=billboard_pro_post&p=1236173519"},"modified":"2026-02-05T06:04:41","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T06:04:41","slug":"chris-brown-sued-by-lyricist-who-says-star-cut-him-out-of-sensational-monalisa-royalties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sarmiento24h.com\/?p=9430","title":{"rendered":"Chris Brown Sued by Lyricist Who Says Star Cut Him Out of \u2018Sensational\u2019 & \u2018Monalisa\u2019 Royalties"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Trending on Billboard <\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Chris Brown <\/a>has been sued by a man who claims he co-wrote two successful songs for the R&B star but hasn\u2019t seen a penny in royalties.<\/p>\n

Songwriter Steve Chokpelle, also known as Muse, alleged in a Wednesday (Feb. 4) federal court complaint that he wrote the lyrics for \u201cSensational,\u201d a track off Brown\u2019s 2023 album 11:11<\/em>, which reached the top<\/a> of Billboard\u2019s Mainstream R&B\/Hip-Hop Airplay chart and peaked at No. 71 on the Billboard Hot 100. Chokpelle also says he was the lyricist for the 2022 track \u201cMonalisa,\u201d a collaboration between Brown, Lojay and Sarz<\/a> that hit No. 8 on Billboard U.S. Afrobeats Songs and No. 38 on Billboard<\/em>\u2018s Rhythmic Airplay chart.<\/p>\n

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\"Sean <\/div>\n

<\/a> <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cDefendants sustained a tremendous benefit, and shall continue to receive tremendous benefit, by [earning] millions in revenues, acclaim, accolades and goodwill from the commercial exploitation of \u2018Monalisa\u2019 and \u2018Sensational,\u2019\u201d reads the lawsuit. \u201cAs a result of defendants\u2019 failure to acknowledge plaintiff\u2019s authorship and copyright ownership interests, and by their failure to compensate plaintiff, defendants have been unjustly enriched.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the lawsuit, Chokpelle wrote the \u201cMonalisa\u201d lyrics during a 2020 session with Brown and fellow singer Sean Kingston<\/a> at Brown\u2019s home in Tarzana, Calif. But Chokpelle is not credited on the song, and he alleges he \u201cnever received any compensation despite \u2018Monalisa\u2019s\u2019 commercial success.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chokpelle then claims he penned the lyrics for \u201cSensational\u201d in 2023 alongside producer Onyekachi Emenalo, who goes by the moniker Krazytunez, and later shared the song with Brown. Although Chokpelle is indeed listed as a composer on the \u201cSensational\u201d credits, he alleges he was intentionally left off the song\u2019s copyright registration paperwork and has been paid \u201cno revenues whatsoever.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, Chokpelle\u2019s lawsuit seeks a court order that would declare him an author and co-copyright owner of both \u201cMonalisa\u201d and \u201cSensational.\u201d He\u2019s also seeking at least $1 million in damages as part of unjust enrichment and fraud claims against Brown, Kingston, Sony Music Entertainment and Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG).<\/p>\n

Reps for Brown, Sony and UMPG did not immediately return requests for comment on Wednesday. Kingston, who is currently serving a federal prison sentence<\/a> after being convicted of fraud in an unrelated matter, could not immediately be reached for comment.  <\/p>\n


\"Billboard
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Trending on Billboard Chris Brown has been...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9431,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entretenimiento"],"yoast_head":"\nChris Brown Sued by Lyricist Who Says Star Cut Him Out of \u2018Sensational\u2019 & \u2018Monalisa\u2019 Royalties - 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