‘Don’t stop the fight,’ Flourgon says of ‘dembow’ lawsuit

“Don’t stop fighting for what you believe and know is yours,” is the advice that veteran dancehall artiste Flourgon is giving to Cleveland ‘Clevie’ Browne and the estate of the late Wycliffe ‘Steely’ Johnson, as they navigate a high-profile dispute regarding their music.

“From my experience, you have to be determined … that’s number one … because a lot of people will come and distract yuh. Pressure will mek it feel like it cyaan work. In my case, people all call me over di Internet and seh, ‘Dutty Flourgon why yuh nuh leave di girl alone,” Flourgon, told THE STAR.

Flourgon, in January 2020, settled out of court with pop singer Miley Cyrus following a US$300 million lawsuit which he filed against her, her producer Mike WiLL Made-It, and her record label RCA Records (Sony). Flourgon claimed that in her 2013 hit song, We Can’t Stop, Cyrus stole the lyrics from his 1988 dancehall hit, We Run Thing.

Flourgon sings “We run things, things no run we”, and Cyrus sings: “We run things, things don’t run we”. He filed the lawsuit in March 2018 in a Manhattan federal court. The settlement agreement brought the case to an end, with the terms stating specifically that it could not be filed again. One question remains unanswered – the exact financial terms and amount of the settlement.

“The money wasn’t anything as much as people were saying,” Flourgon told THE STAR with a laugh. “But it’s not just about the money. It’s the journey and the will to move forward. Out of it I bought a house and put on the gate ‘We run things’. I try my best not to waste that money.”

Flourgon was one of the 2026 honourees at Tuesday’s Excellence in Music Ceremony at The Courtleigh Auditorium in New Kingston. He received a British Phonographic Industry (BPI)-certified 2x Platinum disc connected to Cyrus’ We Can’t Stop. Organised by Back 2 Da Future Music Limited in collaboration with Royalty Network Inc., the event had its inception in 2024 and was originally known as the Grammy Certificate Ceremony.

The entertainer told THE STAR that he had actually spoken to Clevie – who was also a recipient – that same evening and told him not to worry himself about anything.

Two weeks ago, Steely and Clevie made international headlines when a US federal judge struck down a significant part of the copyright lawsuit filed by the production duo against Bad Bunny, 150 other artistes and major music corporation. The suit targeted nearly 2,000 songs across several decades. At the core of the lawsuit is the claim that the iconic ‘dembow’ rhythm that powers modern reggaeton, was illegally copied from the duo’s 1989 instrumental track titled Fish Market.

The lawsuit still remains active, however, as narrower claims involving direct sampling of Steely and Clevie’s actual sound recordings are still allowed to proceed. Clevie had no comment, but Flourgon said that he has every confidence in Clevie’s determination to “not bow and keep running things”.

“Steely and Clevie played on We Run Things and they encouraged me a lot when I was going through this hardship. I believed in myself, I believed in my work . When people told me, ‘Flourgon, she never use a whole heap of the song … just a line’, I went back and I read up on infringement laws and I said ‘Yow, this is possible’.”

Flourgon said that he got the right lawyers to work on the case and that they supported him very well.

“Because it’s not just the win ... is a way so that other people can learn and believe that they can also protect their work. I know right now there are a lot of artistes in Jamaica who make crazy money based on what I did. And I give thanks to the Most High to let me be the one to push down the gate so that others may come in,” Flourgon said.