Dispute over 'Puppy Tail' Artistes claiming ownership of dance

Ever since the dance move known as Puppy Tail gained popularity within the dancehall space, several artistes have come out claiming rights to the dance with songs bearing the same name, with some demanding credit from the other artiste for being the originator.

The most popular version of the Puppy Tail song to date is from dancehall artiste Demarco, but another artiste, Ganggoolie, has come forward, claiming that Demarco pirated his work.

"Mi did av a song name Tremble Tremble weh come out from last year and did a gwaan good, so a dat dem see and copy di ting and a claim it as dem own," he told THE STAR.

Pure politics

Making specific reference to Demarco, Ganggoolie said, "Mi nah put my mouth a grung an talk. Mi a di first man come out wid da song deh, but a pure politics inna di business, and when a man av a bigger name dan you and more money fi throw around. Fi dem material will always be more popular."

Drawing on one of his earlier hits, the deejay said that this wasn't the first time other artistes had copied his work. "A di same ting di man dem do wid Muscle Wine but mi nah watch nuh face because from you have talent, you will make it in the business," he said.

He had this advice for the more established artistes: "Leave the younger youth dem mek dem strive man and stop gi dem a fight."

Demarco's camp, which had been made aware of the allegations over the past few weeks, told THE news team that the controversy now unfolding was forseen. Raymond 'Shadow' Small, Demarco's publicist, told THE news team that he knew this would happen sooner or later.

Established career

"We saw this coming and that's why we made the video, the making of Puppy Tail and uploaded it to YouTube," he said. "This video has the creators of the dance, Renee 6:30 and DHQ Nickiesha, as well as behind-the-scenes footage from the video."

While stating that Demarco has an established career with some of the most popular hits in dancehall recently, Small warned that it was high time these artistes stopped using the entertainer's career to build their own.

"These accusations are absolutely absurd! I mean, Demarco has some of the most popular hits in the dancehall now, so why would he do something like that?" Small questioned. "These artistes need to focus on their own careers instead of using the artiste's name to gain notoriety?"

Ganggoolie and Demarco are not the only entertainers with Puppy Tail songs circulating in the music sphere as up-and-coming artiste Naazir also has a version of the song.