Drake “Janice STFU” Lawsuit: His Team Denies Stealing the Chorus
A producer says the ICEMAN hook was his first — and now an alleged reference track is circulating. Drake’s camp calls the whole thing fabricated.
By The Superfan — CelebnMusic247
Drake is in another courtroom fight over authorship — and his team is not mincing words. According to TMZ reporting cited by KMEL on Friday, October 16, producer Aviel “Avi” Hirschfield has sued the Toronto superstar, claiming the chorus of the hit “Janice STFU” was his work first.
In the lawsuit, per KMEL, Hirschfield alleges he recorded the hook in January 2026 and sent it to production duo FnZ and others who work with Drake — then never heard back, even as Drake allegedly used the same lyrics and melody on the record. Hirschfield says he sent everything, down to timestamps on his audio files, and claims he never received credit or compensation. The suit also claims FnZ was credited as a producer of the song even though Hirschfield’s team provided recording “stems” for the vocals from his own production software — and that Drake’s lawyers hit him with a cease-and-desist to stop him claiming he wrote the chorus.
Drake’s representative shut it all down. “These allegations are categorically, unequivocally, and completely denied,” the rep said. “There is not one iota of truth to these accusations.” The rep maintained the claims are fabricated and called the lawsuit a “manufactured and baseless attempt” to use the Grammy winner’s name for money and attention, adding: “Drake wrote this song and has no connection or knowledge of this person full stop.”
The alleged reference track surfaces
The story did not sit still over the weekend. On Monday night, October 19, Complex shared the recording Hirschfield reportedly sent to FnZ, per KMEL. Hirschfield says he built the demo over FnZ’s instrumental in January 2026 after riding around in a rented Maybach listening to Lykke Li’s 2011 hit “I Follow Rivers,” interpolating its chorus with a distorted vocal — a sound KMEL describes as almost exactly like the chorus on Drake’s single.
The complaint itself is blunt about the resemblance: “The similarities between the chorus in that Copyrighted Work and the chorus in Janice STFU are beyond striking: Janice STFU’s chorus is literally identical to the Copyrighted Work in lyrics, melody, and cadence,” the lawsuit reads, per KMEL. “There is such identity between the two that no assertion of independent creation or coincidence can be made with a straight face.”
“Janice STFU” dropped in May as the second single from Drake’s ICEMAN album, on which the only credited lyricist is Aubrey “Drake” Graham. The song had already drawn attention after fans claimed it was a diss aimed at Joe Budden amid their feud. Now it has a second life — as Exhibit A. With a recording in public and a rep on record calling the suit baseless, this one is headed for a judge, not a settlement of opinions.
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