{"id":9291,"date":"2024-08-30T15:52:42","date_gmt":"2024-08-30T15:52:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sandbox.reggaenorthca.com\/?p=9291"},"modified":"2024-09-06T12:38:39","modified_gmt":"2024-09-06T12:38:39","slug":"cutty-ranks-says-reggaeton-copycats-forced-him-to-learn-spanish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sandbox.reggaenorthca.com\/?p=9291","title":{"rendered":"Cutty Ranks Says Reggaet\u00f3n Copycats Forced Him to Learn Spanish"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jamaican artist\u00a0Cutty Ranks<\/a>\u00a0has spoken out against what he describes as a longstanding practice by some Reggaet\u00f3n artists of translating Dancehall songs into Spanish and passing them off as their own.<\/p>\n

He said this trend, which saw his hit song\u00a0\u2018Stopper\u2019<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0stolen by one of these Latin American artists, led him to learn Spanish so he could personally translate his work, tap into the Spanish-speaking market, and protect his intellectual property across the linguistic divide.<\/p>\n

\u201cCaw even di\u00a0Stoppa<\/em>, him convert di\u00a0Stoppa<\/em>\u00a0inna Spanish and do a record out of it and I found out about it. And was just saying if yuh caan beat dem, join dem. Suh eventually mi just haffi guh inna dem market and penetrate it. Find a girl in deh \u2013 shi speak Spanish an English, an mi learn Spanish through she,\u201d Cutty told Music Phil during an interview on\u00a0Yard Style Live<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Cutty Ranks also highlighted at length the impediments he encountered with the hit song\u00a0\u2018Dame Tu Cosita\u2019<\/em><\/strong>, the music video for which has surpassed 4.7 billion views on YouTube.<\/p>\n

According to the 59-year-old, the song was originally written by him in Patois and titled\u00a0\u2018Gimme Little Thing\u2019<\/em><\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n

He then asked Panamanian producer Rodney Clark, better known as\u00a0El Chombo<\/a>, to, as a native Spanish speaker, translate the lyrics into Spanish for him (Cutty) to record a Spanish version to reach a broader audience.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0\u2018Press Di Trigger\u2019<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0artist explained further that the decision to engage El Chombo in translating the lyrics was based on the thought that, as a native Spanish speaker, the producer could accurately translate the song\u2019s meaning.<\/p>\n

\u201cI asked him to, as the producer, to convert my lyrics weh me write into Spanish. I write it in English which is gimme litle thing: \u2018gimme litle thing and hail to di king, gyal\u2019\u2026 That\u2019s how it was desiged\u2026 because I am so interested in Spanish, the producer that is Rodney Clark aka El Chombo, I asked him fi translate Gimme Little Thing into Spanish and that is how Dame Tu Cosita come about,\u201d Cutty emphasized.<\/p>\n

The former Penthouse artist recounted how the original Spanish version of \u2018Dame Tu Cosita\u2019<\/em><\/strong> came to be, pointing out that the iconic \u201cah, ah, aie\u201d in the chorus was a creative solution when the original English phrase \u201chail to the king\u201d did not work rhythmically in Spanish.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn a suh now when him come up wid di Dame Tu Cosita, that was the translation; \u2018Gimme little ting\u2019. But the hail to di King \u2013 you know the Spanish language is very various and funny. If yuh nuh know weh yuh a do it will mess yuh up. So di \u2018Hail to di King\u2019 part couldn\u2019t work in terms of the rhyme or whatever. So a suh di \u201caie\u201d come een. \u2018Dame tu cosita ah, ah aie\u2019,\u201d he explained further.<\/p>\n

However, the\u00a0\u2018Limb by Limb\u2019<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0artist says El Chombo has consistently misled the public, falsely claiming to have written the song and taking full credit for its success, despite his (Cutty Ranks) unmistakable Jamaican voice on the track.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut him a guh around a tell people seh a him write it. But is misinformation. I asked him to, as the producer, to convert my lyrics weh me write into Spanish. Even if he convert into Spanish, is still mine,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Cutty Ranks further alleged that El Chombo added himself to the remix of the song years later, despite not being an artist. He says El Chombo not only failed to pay him royalties but also sampled other tracks without permission, including\u00a0\u2018Six Million Ways\u2019<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0\u2018Kill Dem Out\u2019<\/em><\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cSuh him can in a lot a trouble fi dat too,\u201d he remarked.<\/p>\n

The original version of\u00a0\u2018Dame Tu Cosita\u2019<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0did well in the Spanish market, but it did not feature El Chombo, Cutty said, adding that it was after the massive views on the YouTube video with the animated alien character, that El Chombo put himself on the remix with Pitbull and Karol G.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then him now. guh put himself on the remix\u2026 he\u2019s not a artiste but him just guh put himself on it and use my name in orda fi build fi him self. And it work. It work. But at the same time you dont waan pay homage,\u201d he declared.<\/p>\n

\u201cHim run away don\u2019t give mi a dalla,\u201d Cutty Ranks said, expressing his frustration over not receiving proper credit or payment back then.<\/p>\n

Cutty Ranks eventually took legal action, forcing El Chombo to acknowledge his contributions to the song. However, he noted that he has yet to receive full payment from Ultra Music, whose accompanying video for the remix has garnered 122 million views on YouTube.<\/p>\n

\u201cA mi haffi force him to. Get a proper lawyer and move to him. A suh come mi get mi rights offa him. An all now dem still nuh pay mi in terms a Ultra Music \u2013 don\u2019t pay up all now,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, El Chombo and Ultra Music are currently named as defendants in\u00a0Steely & Clevie<\/a>\u2019s massive copyright lawsuit.\u00a0\u00a0\u2018Dame Tu Cosita\u2019<\/em>\u00a0<\/strong>and its remix with Pitbull and Karol G are identified as having allegedly infringed on the producers\u2019\u00a0\u2018Fish Market\u2019<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0riddim.<\/p>\n

In May this year,\u00a0a federal judge ruled<\/a>\u00a0that the lawsuit could proceed after denying motions to dismiss brought by several of the over 160 defendants in the case.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jamaican artist\u00a0Cutty Ranks\u00a0has spoken out against what he describes as a longstanding practice by some Reggaet\u00f3n artists of translating Dancehall songs into Spanish and passing them off as their own. He said this trend, which saw his hit song\u00a0\u2018Stopper\u2019\u00a0stolen by one of these Latin American artists, led him to learn Spanish so he could personally […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":9282,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[260],"class_list":["post-9291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-breakingnews"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandbox.reggaenorthca.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandbox.reggaenorthca.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandbox.reggaenorthca.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandbox.reggaenorthca.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandbox.reggaenorthca.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9291"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sandbox.reggaenorthca.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9291\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9292,"href":"https:\/\/sandbox.reggaenorthca.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9291\/revisions\/9292"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandbox.reggaenorthca.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandbox.reggaenorthca.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandbox.reggaenorthca.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandbox.reggaenorthca.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}