Drake scored his biggest ICEMAN hit with "Janice STFU," a track that is now the center of a legal battle over copyright, songwriting credits, and royalties. Producer and songwriter Aviel Calev Hirschfield claimed the Toronto superstar stole his chorus for that song from a demo Aviel sent his team in January of this year. Now, the OVO mogul's team has responded to this lawsuit, per TMZ.
"These allegations are categorically, unequivocally, and completely denied. There is not one iota of truth to these accusations," a representative for the artist reportedly told the outlet. The representative also called the legal filing a "manufactured and baseless attempt" to take advantage of Drizzy's status and notoriety for a cash-grab.
"Drake wrote this song and has no connection or knowledge of this person full stop," the representative reportedly added, emphasizing their belief in the allegations being totally fabricated. We will see if the songwriter who launched this lawsuit responds to this in any way. Otherwise, we will have to wait for more significant legal updates to see where this situation will go next, procedurally speaking.
Drake Sued
For those unaware, this lawsuit against Drake, filed yesterday (Friday, October 16) against him, OVO Sound, and Universal Music Group, seeks compensation and songwriting credits. In addition, it accused The Boy's team of accusing Aviel Calev Hirschfield of manipulating metadata in recording files to support his claim.
Hirschfield claims he received an instrumental from production duo FNZ, who have worked closely with Drake, and developed a demo that interpolated Lykke Li's "I Follow Rivers." He allegedly sent it to FNZ and other Drake producers in January of 2026 and didn't hear back until ICEMAN's release. The producer and songwriter claims the hook on "Janice STFU" is "literally identical" to his demo, but did not receive any credit or compensation.
The complaint centers on Aviel's alleged additional writing for the Lykke Li interpolation. It also denies Drake's camp's alleged claims that the songwriter manipulated metadata in recording files to back up his allegations.
We will see what the next step here is. In the meantime, Drake is finding success elsewhere.
He and Aviel Calev Hirschfield both have songwriting credits on Beyoncé's 2022 RENAISSANCE track "HEATED."
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