Ice Spice Facing “In Ha Mood” Copyright Infringement Lawsuit

Ice Spice is being sued by two musicians who claim that she copied one of their songs for the Like..? EP’s “In Ha Mood.” In the lawsuit, obtained by Pitchfork, Duval “D.Chamberz” Chamberlain and Kenley “Kass the Producer” Carmenate claim that Ice Spice took from their track “In That Mood,” which they released on D.Chamberz’s Boom Bap 2 Drill Rap in July 2022.

D.Chamberz, as noted in the complaint, is a rapper from Coney Island, Brooklyn. According to the complaint, he and Kass the Producer made “In That Mood” before D.Chamberz previewed it on Instagram on August 8, 2021. Later, from January 28, 2022, through February 11, 2022, the single was available on digital streaming platforms “in connection with licensing for an advertising campaign that never ran.” It was released again on Boom Bap 2 Drill Rap in the summer and remains online.

In the lawsuit, D.Chamberz claims that he performed “In That Mood,” mostly in New York, “no less than 36 times” before Ice Spice’s release of “In Ha Mood” in January 2023. “Upon information and belief, Ice Spice, [producer RiotUSA], and/or members of their creative teams were present for certain public performances of In That Mood during the relevant time period,” the musicians and their attorney contend in the complaint. They also allege that RiotUSA “was listening to an Ice Spice song on Hot 97 (FM 97.1) on November 15, 2021” minutes before “In That Mood” also played on the radio station, “making it a virtual certainty that Riot actually heard In That Mood more than a year before In Ha Mood was first created and published.”

The musicians and their attorney argue in the complaint, “The similarities between In Ha Mood and the Work [In That Mood] – including the key phrase used in the chorus and repeated in a substantially similar manner numerous times throughout both songs – are such that it is simply not reasonable to believe that In Ha Mood could have been created without having heard the Work first.”

D.Chamberz and Kass the Producer also outline specific alleged similarities between “In That Mood” and “In Ha Mood.” For example, they argue that the two songs share “the same hip-hop rap and ‘drill’ style,” have similar titles, and use “similar hook/chorus lyrics.” They also allege the songs share “an almost identical tempo” and “a similar rhythm.”

When reached by Pitchfork via email, D.Chamberz and Kass the Producer’s attorney, Chester R. “Chet” Ostrowski, wrote, “D.Chamberz and Kass created an original song and have good reasons to believe that Defendants copied significant elements of that song—plain and simple. If you listen to the two songs back-to-back, you will hear the similarities for yourself. In Plaintiffs’ view, those similarities are legally material and cannot be purely coincidental.”

Ostrowski continued, “Unfortunately, musical copyright infringement seems all too common at this point. It benefits all artists—and the music industry as a whole—when victims of infringement stand up for themselves and assert their rights under the law, as Plaintiffs are doing here. All artists should strive to safeguard their creative work and get the credit they deserve for it.”

D.Chamberz and Kass the Producer filed their lawsuit yesterday (January 17) in a New York federal court. Ice Spice, Dolo Entertainment Inc., RiotUSA, Capitol Records, Capitol Music Group, 10K Projects, and Universal Music Group are named as defendants.

Pitchfork has reached out to Ice Spice’s representatives for comment and more information.