Ice Spice Reaches Settlement in “In Ha Mood” Copyright Infringement Lawsuit
In January, Ice Spice was sued by two musicians—Duval “D.Chamberz” Chamberlain and Kenley “Kass the Producer” Carmenate—who claimed that her Like..? EP hit “In Ha Mood” copied their original single “In That Mood,” which the two released on D.Chamberz’s Boom Bap 2 Drill Rap in July 2022. The lawsuit also named her producer RiotUSA, Universal Music Group, Capitol Records, and 10K Projects. Now, Ice Spice has reached a settlement with D.Chamberz and Kass the Producer, according to court documents viewed by Pitchfork.
The recent motion, which was filed in a New York federal court this past Friday, states that both parties’ attorneys agreed to resolve the lawsuit. Specific terms of the deal, however, were not disclosed, beyond that each side will “bear [their] own costs, attorneys’ fees, and expenses.” Pitchfork has reached out to both parties for comment.
In the initial lawsuit, D.Chamberz outlined how he and Kass the Producer made “In That Mood” before previewing it on Instagram on August 8, 2021. Apart from a two-week window where the song was on streaming platforms at the start of 2022, it wasn’t available to hear until Boom Bap 2 Drill Rap came out that summer. The Coney Island rapper also claimed that he performed “In That Mood” live in New York “no less than 36 times” before Ice Spice released “In Ha Mood” in January 2023, and that his song received “significant airplay” on local radio stations Hot 97 and Power 105.1, thus giving Ice Spice and her producer RiotUSA a chance to hear it.
D.Chamberz and Kass the Producer alleged that there were specific similarities between “In That Mood” and “In Ha Mood,” including that the two songs have similar titles, share “the same hip-hop rap and ‘drill’ style,” and use “similar hook/chorus lyrics.” They also claimed the songs share “an almost identical tempo” and “a similar rhythm.”
At the end of 2023, Ice Spice brought “In Ha Mood” to Saturday Night Live for her debut performance on the late-night TV program. Her first album, Y2K!, came out in the summer.
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