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Roddy Ricch Beats Copyright Suit Over Monster Hit ‘The Box’

Judge finds Roddy Ricch's 'The Box' is a 'braggadocious' rap song about money, sex, and skill while 'Come on Down' is a soul song about heartbreak.

Rapper Roddy Ricch is the victor in a legal battle that claimed his highest-charting megahit “The Box” infringed on the copyright of a 1975 soul song titled “Come on Down.” In a biting ruling, a Manhattan-based federal judge found that “no reasonable jury could find that the works are substantially similar.” The decisive dismissal came just two months after California-based songwriter Greg Perry filed his complaint alleging that Ricch and Atlantic Records, among other co-defendants, released “The Box” in 2019 with “a complete duplication” of portions of his song, most notably its distinctive violin opening. “Comparative analysis of the beat, lyrics, hook, rhythmic structure, metrical placement, and narrative context by a musicology expert demonstrates clearly and convincingly that ‘The Box’ is an unauthorized duplication and infringement of certain elements of ‘Come On Down,’” Perry’s lawsuit alleged.

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