After Ghanaian acapella group Alabaster Box sued rapper Medikal in April 2025 for using a portion of their song ‘Akwaaba’ without permission, there has been little public update on the court case.
However, in an interview on Okay FM on February 10, 2026, the group offered insight into the progress of the matter.
According to Alabaster Box, the case is still ongoing in court. They said that when they initially tried to serve Medikal and his team with the writ of summons in person, the attempt was unsuccessful.
As a result, the court granted them permission to serve Medikal and his team via substitute service, which has been completed, and other legal processes are now progressing.
“The issue is still in court. We tried to serve him, but we couldn’t, so the court granted us leave to serve him by substitute service, which we have done, and other processes are ongoing. We’ve taken our minds off it and are focusing on other things, so wherever the court process takes us and they call us, we will go,” Alabaster Box explained.
The group also described how they initially approached Medikal’s camp after noticing that ‘Welcome to Africa’ had sampled their song.
The group noted that instead of dealing directly with the rapper, they were directed to a middleman. Realising this, their lawyer advised them to leave all negotiations to him.
However, when Medikal’s camp realised that their point of contact was a legal representative, communication reportedly ceased.
“When we noticed they had sampled the song, we reached out to them, and they directed us to a middleman. As soon as we realized it was a middleman, our lawyer advised that we leave everything to him so he could handle it on our behalf. When our lawyer contacted them and they realized he was a lawyer, they decided to stop talking altogether,” Alabaster Box said.
The group added that they are waiting for the court process to play out and emphasised the importance of adhering to any ruling issued.
They noted that if the court rules in their favour and Medikal and his team fail to comply, he could be labelled a criminal. Conversely, if the ruling does not go in their favor, they are prepared to respect it.
“We are waiting for the court process to run its course, and once the court gives a ruling, failure to adhere to it could label someone a criminal. We are not difficult; we just expect to be treated with respect,” the group added.
Background
Alabaster Box claims that the first 10 seconds of Medikal’s ‘Welcome to Africa’ reproduces their song ‘Akwaaba.’
They argue that both the title and certain verses in Medikal’s track indicate that it was derived from their original work.
The group’s lawyers demanded the immediate removal of ‘Welcome to Africa’ from all digital and traditional platforms, but this demand was not met.
Alabaster Box is now seeking general damages of Ten Million Ghana Cedis (GH₵10 million) for the infringement, as well as exemplary damages of Five Million Ghana Cedis (GH₵5 million) for Medikal’s actions, including the association of their brand with profane lyrics in his song.
Source: Ghanaweb
