Feature
Landmark sample disputes & litigation
Sampling has its own case law — a handful of fights that set the rules everyone now works under, and disagreements still playing out in court. Here are the ones documented across the catalogue: the foundational rulings, the active litigation, and every song whose clearance was settled only after a dispute. Descriptive, sourced, and not legal advice.
A foundational ruling
The case that made sample clearance mandatory.
Active, unresolved litigation
Disputes still before the courts as of the latest research — presented as ongoing, not settled.
Dem Bow — Shabba Ranks
The 1990 track that gave the riddim its name — swept up in the same active Steely & Clevie litigation over reggaeton’s foundational drum pattern.
Poco Man Jam — Gregory Peck
The origin of the “Dem Bow” riddim, at the center of Steely & Clevie’s 2021 US federal suit against ~160 reggaeton acts — still unresolved (a judge declined summary judgment as recently as Dec 2025).
Cleared after dispute
37 songs whose clearance was reached only after a lawsuit, a threatened suit, or a public back-and-forth — each page documents how it started and how it landed.
