Samuel Nii Narku Dowuona, the lead for renowned acapella group Alabaster Box, has bemoaned rap star Medikal’s alleged copyright infringement using elements from the group’s Akwaaba for his new Welcome to Africa song.

Dowuona cited recent copyright infringement cases such as when Contemporary Gospel group Team Eternity Ghana (TEG) was taken on by music executive Kwame Mickey for using lyrics from Hallelujah Voices’ Defe Defe without his consent, and when record producer Kobby Spiky Nkrumah won a US$250,000 intellectual property (IP) infringement case against the Confederation of African Football (CAF) over the latter using Spiky’s Okomfo Anokye music for their 2018 CAF Awards without an agreement.

“When my brother Kobby Spiky Nkrumah’s intellectual property was infringed upon by CAF and he won the legal battle against them, I was here to laud him for blazing the trail,” the singer underlined.

According to Dowuona, he least expected he and Alabaster Box would be next in an IP infringement tussle over “our classic and timeless Akwaaba song”.

He assured “in the coming days, you will get the full picture as the story unfolds”.

At publication time, classfmonline.com has spotted a letter dated April 8, 2025, and addressed to Samuel Adu Frimpong (aka Medikal).

In the letter, Sustineri Attorneys, legal representatives of Alabaster Box, said, “Notwithstanding the notoriety of our clients’ copyright ownership of the song, you have composed, produced and commercially promoting a new song titled ‘Welcome to Africa’ in which you have significantly sampled our clients’ song without authorization, grant, or license of rights for such purpose.”

The lawyers asked Medikal to withdraw “the infringing song from distribution and circulation from all traditional and digital platforms,” and provide “a detailed account of all revenue from the promotion, distribution, performance, and marketing of the infringing song,” among other things.

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