Hell N Back, the viral 2019 single by British artist Bakar, is at the center of a copyright infringement lawsuit filed in New York on Tuesday (May 6).
Filed by TufAmerica/Tuff City Records in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York and obtained by MBW, the complaint claims that Bakar’s 2019 hit Hell N Back and its 2023 remix with Summer Walker sampled the 1967 recording of Robert Parker’s Caught You In A Lie without permission.
TufAmerica claims that it is the owner of all rights to both the composition and master recording of I Caught You In A Lie, which was written by Wilbert Smith (aka Lee Diamond).
Lee Diamond is listed in the credits section dedicated to Bakar’s Hell N Back on Spotify, where the track has racked up nearly 630 million streams alone. The Summer Walker Remix has over 260 million streams on Spotify.
The lawsuit centers around a complex ownership dispute, with TufAmerica alleging that a company called Resnik Music Group has been falsely claiming ownership of the composition through its website, where it lists the track for licensing “with a full-length playable preview of a recording of the Composition.”
According to the lawsuit: “Despite their knowledge that his claim of ownership in the Composition is false, and despite being explicitly advised by Plaintiff that his claim is false … Resnik Music have listed and continue to list the Composition on their website for licensing.”
It adds: “Indeed, because of their false claim of ownership in the Composition… Resnik Music have been licensing the use of the Composition to others, and has been collecting monies to which they are not entitled, and which should have been paid to Plaintiff.”
The complaint alleges that “with the possible exception of the first four beats at the start, and possibly one or two beats at the end of the 3½- and 3¼-minute songs, both HNB and HNB Remix sample the entire rhythm track (including all of the bass and drum sounds) from the Composition and the Master throughout the entire duration of those tracks.”
Bakar’s Hell N Back was first released commercially in August 2019 by Black Butter Records, an imprint of Sony Music UK. The remix with Summer Walker followed in September 2023.
Bakar, Sony Music Entertainment UK, and Black Butter are named as defendants in the lawsuit, which you can read in full here.
According to the complaint, Sony UK entered into an agreement an individual named as Maple Gaines (named as a defendant in the suit) in October 2019 for use of the master recording in Hell N Back, but, the lawsuit claims, Gaines “did not own the Master, she was not authorized to enter into the agreement, and as she lacked the rights, the agreement was a nullity.”
The filing notes that Hell N Back has had “significant commercial success” and continues to be licensed for high-profile projects, including use in the teaser trailer for the 2023 Disney/Pixar film Elemental and on American Idol in 2025.
The lawsuit states that as of 2023, “Sony UK was holding at least $47,500 in undistributed royalties” due to the competing ownership claims.
TufAmerica is seeking damages for willful copyright infringement, which could amount to up to $150,000 per infringed work, as well as an injunction preventing further distribution of “Hell N Back” and its remix.
This isn’t the first time TufAmerica has been involved in copyright disputes.
In 2012, it sued Kanye West, alleging the rapper’s 2010 album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy sampled Eddie Bo’s 1969 track Hook and Sling Part One without authorization. West settled that case out of court.
TufAmerica sued Jay-Z in 2013, this time alleging that the rapper’s Run This Town infringed on the copyright of Hook and Sling Part One with a one-syllable sample. A federal judge in New York threw out the case in 2014.
In another case, TufAmerica sued The Beastie Boys, alleging that their 1989 album Paul’s Boutique sampled funk trio Trouble Funk without permission. That case was also thrown out of a New York federal court, in 2015.
Last year, TufAmerica Inc. (aka Tuff City Records) filed a lawsuit against Universal Music Publishing Group, alleging that the composition behind Mary J. Blige’s Real Love from 1992 contains a sample of Impeach the President, a funk song recorded by The Honey Drippers in 1972.Music Business Worldwide
