Chocolate not so sweet
Navendran “Novi” Naidoo, a rapper from the coastal city of Durban South Africa is making waves in South Africa by claiming that the popular band Mi Casa has infringed the copyright in his rap song Chocolat which features South African rugby player, S’bura Sithole.
The subject of Naidoo’s complaint is Mi Casa’s hit single which also goes by the name Chocolat. He claims that the two songs are substantially similar.
Besides the fact that the songs have identical titles, the word “chocolat” is repeated in the chorus of both songs. The chorus in Naidoo’s version goes as follows: “chocolat, chocolat, brown, brown, brown, chocolat, chocolat”. In comparison, Mi Casa’s chorus goes “chocolat choco, chocolat choc, chocolat, I like it, I want it girl.”
However, that appears to be where the obvious similarity ends. Melodically, the songs sound completely different. The lyrics of Mi Casa’s song go along the lines of someone admiring women’s bodies and their various shades of brown skin, whereas Naidoo’s song is about how he is the only Indian rapper in the game and he is the best and drives and Audi and… you get the picture.
Naidoo’s lawyers have demanded that Mi Casa stop playing, publishing, performing, airing or selling copies of their Chocolat song, or any album featuring the song. He also wants a portion of the royalties the band has earned from sales of their hit single to date, which runs into millions of rands.
Having listened to the two songs side by side, we dont think Mi Casa have anything to worry about. Take a listen and judge for yourself:
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