‘Neneng B’ artists reach settlement with foreign producer who accused them of stealing beat

By: Ian Biong - 5 years ago
Neneng B

Raf Davis (left) and Nik Makino (right). Image: Twitter.com/@nikmakinobish

Filipino artists Nikolson Makino’s and Raf Davis’ hip-hop song “Neneng B” is now up again on YouTube, as Europe-based music producer Roko Tensei announced that the earlier alleged beat-stealing case involving the song has been settled.

Tensei said Makino already paid what is due for the producer’s beat titled “Relax”, as disclosed on Tensei’s Twitter post today, Nov. 18.

“Neneng B Update: Thanks everyone for your overwhelming support,” he said. “@nikmakinobish apologized to me. We signed a deal and he paid what he owed me. The video is now back.”

Makino meanwhile left a message for his “haters,” in which he seemed to imply that the beat was already paid for even before the issue came to light, as seen on a statement he posted on Twitter earlier.

“Kapag yung resibo ko naipublic na sana ung mga nambabash jan pangatawanan niyo yung sinasabe nyong ninakaw ko ung beat,” he said. “Im talking about Resibo bago pa sumikat ung Neneng B not the one na kakabayad lang.”

(When my receipt goes public, I hope my bashers out there stand by what they said, that I stole the beat. I’m talking about the receipt even before “Neneng B” became famous, not the one I just paid for now.)

“Kung di nyo kayang pangatawanan tanggap ko pa din kayo as my listener/fan I love you all. Haters ka man o fan,” he added.

(If you can stand by what you said, I still accept you as my listener or fan, I love you all. Whether you are a hater or a fan.)

Makino and Davis have been previously accused by Tensei of allegedly stealing “Relax” for “Neneng B”.

Tensei said Makino owed him “a lot of money” and was set to sue the Filipino artist on Nov. 20, as he disclosed on Twitter last Friday, Nov. 15.

“Philippino (sic) artist @nikmakinobish Stole my beat ‘Relax” for his song ‘Neneng B’,” Tensei said. “Nik owes me a lot of money and I want to make this public because I am about to SUE him (on the 20th). I already gathered all my lawyers. You made a huge mistake ignoring my emails dude.”

The official music video for “Neneng B” was earlier down on YouTube due to Tensei’s copyright claim, but is now already up, as of writing.

Tensei yesterday explained that Makino did not purchase the rights for “Relax“, through a comment he made on the beat’s video, which he uploaded on YouTube on Feb. 16, 2018.

“Nik has NO right to monetizing the song or to make a video with it,” he said. “He must purchase the appropriate rights before uploading the video.”

“The day that he will purchase the rights to the beat, I will release the copyright claim,” he added.

Image: screenshot from YouTube.com/RokoTensei

Tensei earlier warned that it depends on Makino if the latter will be sued. If Makino failed to pay Tensei before or on Nov. 20, and if “he can’t find an agreement before that day, I will let my lawyer handle it.”

“I am trying to be nice and give him the possibility of getting out of this situation in a nice way,” Tensei added.

Agreement worked on

Tensei revealed that he had been working on an agreement with the Filipino artists as early as yesterday, Nov. 17, as stated on his Twitter post on the same day.

“If everything goes well the video will be back ASAP. Thanks everyone for the support. Things are moving,” he said.

Davis meanwhile said that he called Tensei to pay for the beat as posted on Twitter earlier today, accompanied by photos of him with stacks of money he jokingly used as a phone.

“Tinatawagan ko siya kanina para bayaran yung beat… kaso naubusan ako ng english,” he joked. “Kaya bukas nalang. #3AMflex Joke lang kay @nikmakinobish yan, ay Dollars nga pala pera nyan. 💰 💵 opx wag seryosohin!!”

(I was calling him earlier to pay for the beat, but I ran out of English. So I’ll just continue tomorrow. #3AMflex I am joking, this is @nikmakinobish’s, he has dollars for money. Oops, don’t take this seriously!)

https://twitter.com/rastaRAFarian/status/1196148847887519744

Davis further explained that he and Makino were doing their best to settle the issue.

“Nikolson Makino and I are doing our best to settle this ASAP. Di na muna kami mag sasalita pag tapos na ang lahat ng to dun nalang kami mag sasalita. Ang dami hindi alam tunay na storya,” he said.

(Nikolson Makino and I are doing our best to settle this ASAP. We are just going to remain silent for now, and we are only going to speak out once this is all over. A lot of people do not know the real story.)

“Neneng B” music video model Krystal Kate Mana, who also goes by the name Siobe Lim, earlier today defended the two Filipino artists through a reply to an already deleted tweet. She claimed that the rights for “Relax” were already paid for.

“Shut up girl, binayaran ung beat na yun hinabol sya dahil mas nag boom ung kanta at don mas humihingi ng mas malaki pa,” she said. “Wala kang alam. di lang nagsasalita si nik pero tangina sumosobra na kayo, di sa lahat ng bagay kailangan iupdate kayo para malaman nyo.”

(Shut up girl, the beat was already paid for but he [Makino] was chased because the song went famous, and is now being charged for more money. You do not know anything. Nik is just remaining silent but you guys are too much, not every single detail should be shared just to keep you guys updated.) JB

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