Video: Rocky Dawuni reacts to Cabum’s copyright claim over his dad’s song

Reggae superstar Rocky Dawuni has rubbished claims that he intentionally “sampled” Alhaji K Frimpong’s song Kyenkyen Bi Edi Mewu off his latest Beat of Zion album.

Rapper Cabum took to his Twitter page to call Ghana’s music industry “bullshit” over “copyright issues” with Grammy Award nominee, Rocky Dawuni over his dad’s song which features BET award-winner, Sarkodie.

“Ghana’s music industry is bullshit. how can someone like Rocky Dawuni use our father’s song, I mean our property without informing anyone, meanwhile da f*ckin world knows DAT Kyenkyen Bi Edi Me Wu by da Legendary Alhaji K. Frimpong was my dad. U didn’t show respect Mr. U Wrong!” he posted in a tweet.

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But reacting to this on Daybreak Hitz on Hitz FM on Tuesday, Rocky Dawuni said all he intended to do was to honour Alhaji K Frimpong’s legacy.

He insists that he did not sample the song but rather re-recorded it to pay homage to Alhaji K Frimpong, who he saw as one of the trailblazers in Ghana’s highlife genre history .

He disclosed that, he had set up the copyright system to pay Alhaji K Frimpong’s family their due royalties from the song, even though it has been registered internationally.

This is what Rocky Dawuni said with regards to Cabum’s copyright claim tweet:

“I did this out of my utmost respect for Alhaji K. Frimpong. I was gifted the opportunity to record this at one of the best studios in USA and I made sure that the publishing rights to the family was made intact.

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“I think the tweet is understandable that people will think it’s a sample. They didn’t realize it was a new creation of the song. If you understand music, you will know that songs can be covered anywhere and you have to put in the right structures. I will go and see the family. It’s all a positive thing. I have seen people throwing names at me but it’s okay. When people don’t understand something they think there is a malicious intent.

“I have my own career and been nominated for Grammy so it doesn’t serve me any purpose… this could be revitalised in a way… It was a means to honour their [Alhaji K Frimpong’s family] father’s legacy and I think the energy should be positive. The family is gonna benefit and lets diverse the energy and put in positivity.”

He, however, urged current crop of musicians to emulate his gesture to keep legacies of old Ghanaian highlife musicians alive.

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“What If we had the chance to really recreate songs like this? That was my whole thing of trying to show that the highlife music has sound… it’s all about paying homage,” he concluded.

Watch his full interview on Hitz FM below: