DANCEHALL artiste Red Rat declined comment about a reported settlement with American pop star Chris Brown for allegedly infringing on the copyright of his song, Tight Up Skirt.

“No comments at this time,” said Red Rat in response to the Jamaica Observer queries.

According to completemusicupdate.com, Greensleeves Records settled with Brown and Sony Music Entertainment over allegations that the singer ripped off Tight Up Skirt for his 2017 single Privacy.

In a lawsuit filed in a New York court in July 2021, Greensleeves said that Privacy lifted a line from Tight Up Skirt, which was recorded by Red Rat and released in 1997.

“In creating the infringing work”, the lawsuit stated, “[Brown] took the core musical feature of Tight Up Skirt and used it prominently in the infringing work without permission”.

Greensleeves sued Brown for US$1.5 million for copyright infringement. Details of the reported settlement are unclear.

Produced by Andrew “Buccaneer” Bradford for the Opera House label, Tight Up Skirt was number one on local charts in 1997. It was also on Red Rat’s debut album for Greensleeves Records, Oh No… It’s Red Rat.

The London-based Greensleeves Publishing Ltd was acquired by VP Records in 2008.

In an exclusive 2017 interview, Red Rat spoke to the Observer about how he first heard about Privacy.

“Ever since Chris Brown was in the studio recording the song Privacy and posted it on social media, I have been getting many calls left and right from many people asking me about my thoughts regarding him sampling Tight Up Skirt, and all I can say is: ‘Give God all the glory,’ ” he was quoted as saying three weeks after Brown released his single.

“I think that because Chris Brown, who is one of the biggest pop stars globally, feeling the need to sample a piece of Tight Up Skirt only shows how much he loves and respects Red Rat and his catalogue. It also shows how much of a fan he is to the music,” Red Rat continued.

In 2013, dancehall singjay Samantha J also sampled the song with her remake titled Tight Skirt. It earned her the 2014 Youth View Award for Favourite Breakout Celebrity.

Red Rat (given name Wallace Wilson) emerged on the music scene in 1996 with the hit song, Shelly Ann. His other songs include Dwayne, Charlene, Italee, and Big Man Little Yute.

This is the latest instance of a Jamaican song being in a contentious legal case.

In December 2019, American singer Miley Cyrus settled a copyright infringement lawsuit which involved Flourgon’s We Run Things, which he recorded in 1988. She used the deejay’s song in her 2013 hit, We Can’t Stop.

The deejay settled for an undisclosed sum of money.