UPDATE: On Friday (June 1), Ocean’s attorney Ed McPherson of McPherson Rane LLP issued the following statement responding to Keith’s countersuit against his client: “Mr. Ocean stands behind everything that we alleged in the First Amended Complaint, and we look forward to having the case heard by a judge and jury. We are confident that, when the true facts are presented, Mr. Ocean will prevail. It is quite telling that, on the list of the many songs that Mr. Keith claims to have co-written is a song called ‘At Your Best (You Are Love),’ which was written and recorded by the Isley Brothers in 1975, and covered by Aaliyah in 1994.”
Frank Ocean filed a lawsuit against Blonde producer Om’Mas Keith earlier this year after the producer requested to be credited on 11 Blonde songs. Now, Keith has filed a countersuit against the singer and claims to have written and produced a slew of the songs on Blonde.
In the court document obtained by Billboard, Keith claims he struck a deal with Ocean to produce 14 songs on the singer’s 2012 album Channel Orange, which Keith was paid a flat fee for. However, when Ocean enlisted Keith’s help for Blonde, the collaborators didn’t agree upon a deal and Keith was adamant that he would not accept the same deal he had for his work on Channel Orange.
According to the lawsuit, Keith claims to have worked on the Blonde cuts “Nikes,” “Ivy,” “Pink + White,” “Be Yourself,” “Solo,” “Skyline To,” “Nights,” “Pretty Sweet,” “Facebook Story,” “White Ferrari,” “Seigfried,” “Godspeed,” “Futura Free,” “At Your Best” and “Florida.” Keith also claims Ocean did not receive permission to release or perform the songs, nor did the singer get permission to use Keith’s photos in the supplementary Boys Don’t Cry magazine released with the album.
Keith argued that Ocean has caused him “enormous and irreparable harm.” The producer requests that Ocean’s lawsuit be thrown out, as well as a court order stating that he is the co-author of the songs and accounting for all profits Ocean made from all the songs.
Billboard has reached out to Keith’s rep for additional comment.