Jamaican dancehall icon Shabba Ranks has filed a lawsuit against the publishing arm of Greensleeves Records in an effort to reclaim rights to several of the songs that helped establish him as an international star.
The lawsuit, filed on September 11 in the United States, covers compositions including the Billboard Hot 100 hits “Mr. Loverman,” “Slow and Sexy,” “Housecall” and “Let’s Get It On,” as well as the influential 1990 song “Dem Bow.” Ranks, whose real name is Rexton Gordon, is seeking to exercise copyright termination rights under U.S. law.
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Copyright termination provisions can allow artists and other creators, under certain circumstances, to regain control of copyrights they transferred decades earlier. Ranks first notified Greensleeves in 2023 that he intended to terminate the publisher’s rights to the compositions, but the company rejected his request.
Greensleeves maintains that Ranks’ 1989 publishing agreement classified the compositions as “works made for hire.” Such works are generally excluded from the statutory copyright termination process. Ranks is challenging that interpretation and has asked a federal judge to declare that his termination is valid.
His attorneys, Reitler Kailas & Rosenblatt, argue that the songs could not legally have been works made for hire simply because the contract described them that way. They contend that Ranks was never an employee of Greensleeves and that musical compositions created by an independent author cannot be converted into works made for hire solely through an agreement.
The dispute also places renewed attention on “Dem Bow,” a song whose title became closely associated with the dembow rhythm that later became an important element of reggaetón. The song remains one of the most significant recordings in Ranks’ catalogue and has become part of a broader copyright debate surrounding the musical foundations of the Latin genre.
Ranks rose to international prominence in the late 1980s and 1990s, becoming one of dancehall’s most successful crossover artists. His albums As Raw As Ever and X-tra Naked won consecutive Grammy Awards for Best Reggae Album in 1992 and 1993, respectively.
The case comes as copyright termination rights face renewed scrutiny across the music industry, including a separate dispute involving hip-hop group Salt-N-Pepa and Universal Music Group. For Ranks, the lawsuit represents a renewed effort to determine who ultimately controls the publishing rights to some of the music that helped carry Jamaican dancehall to audiences around the world.
