Drake Slapped With Lawsuit Claiming “Janice STFU” Chorus Was Stolen From a Songwriter’s Demo
Written by Kiss Media on 17 October 2026
One of the biggest hits of 2026 just became Drake’s biggest legal headache. Songwriter Aviel Calev Hirschfield filed a copyright infringement lawsuit Friday (Oct. 16) claiming the chorus of “Janice STFU” was lifted “literally identical” from a demo he submitted to Drake’s producers months before the record dropped.
The suit, first obtained by Billboard, names Drake, OVO Sound, and Universal Music Group as defendants. Hirschfield says he built his demo between December 2025 and January 2026 after receiving an instrumental from FNZ — producers Michael “Finatik” Mulé and Isaac “Zac” De Boni — and wrote it specifically for Drake, interpolating Lykke Li’s 2011 track “I Follow Rivers.” He sent the finished recording to FNZ and other Drake-affiliated producers, then never heard back. Then “Iceman” arrived in May 2026. “Fifteen seconds in, Avi was stunned to hear Drake perform word-for-word, note-for-note, beat-by-beat, the exact same chorus that he (Avi) had recorded and sent,” the complaint reads — the same lyrics, melody, and cadence Hirschfield says he wrote on top of the Lykke Li interpolation.
This isn’t some stranger looking for a payday. Hirschfield and Drake previously shared songwriting credits on “Heated,” the Beyoncé “Renaissance” track from 2022. And the stakes are massive: “Janice STFU” spent two weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 and 20 weeks at No. 1 on the Hot Rap Songs chart — one of the biggest commercial successes of Drake’s career. FNZ received songwriting credits on the finished record; Hirschfield was left off entirely.
Things got heated behind the scenes too. Hirschfield says when he approached Drake’s reps seeking credit and royalties, they claimed the rapper wrote the chorus himself — and even suggested Hirschfield manipulated his recording files to make them look older. His lawyers fired back that faking evidence against an artist he once worked with would be “career suicide.” TMZ reports Drake’s team isn’t backing down, calling the whole lawsuit BS and a money grab. Drake’s representative declined to comment to Billboard; Universal Music Group had not responded as of press time.
Hear the record at the center of it all — the official “Janice STFU” video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SD4yRDY9mek
Where do y’all land — songwriter owed his credit, or a money grab? Drop your take in the comments, and hit the request line at +1 302-357-9831.
Source: TMZ and HotNewHipHop
