Moroccan-American rapper French Montana is facing a copyright lawsuit that claims his 2022 song “Blue Chills” features an unlicensed sample from a female singer-songwriter – who says the rapper tentatively agreed to pay her for the clip but then never did.

The singer Skylar Gudasz 2020 song “Femme Fatal” can be heard playing throughout French’s track, and she claims that the rapper’s reps offered to pay her for the sample – both in upfront fees and ongoing payments, including a fifty-percent share of the publishing copyright.

But in a lawsuit filed Thursday in North Carolina federal court, the singer reportedly says French (whose real name is Karim Kharbouch) then dropped “Blue Chills” without ever actually signing that deal.

Her lawyers wrote, “Despite repeated promises from defendants …. no signed agreement, fees, royalties, licensing agreements or monies have ever been sent to the plaintiff.”

Gudasz says she was first contacted in May 2022 by Deborah Mannis-Gardner, a well-known industry exec who has been called the “queen” of sample clearance, about French using “Femme Fatal” in an upcoming song.

She also said she and her lawyer then negotiated a deal in which she would receive more than $7000 in upfront fees, an .08 percent cut on master royalties, and a fifty-percent share of the copyright for French’s new composition.

But a month later, the song was released “prior to finalizing and signing a licensing agreement.” Gudasz says that her lawyer quickly alerted Mannis-Gardner about the problem but nothing was done.

In addition to French Montana, the lawsuit also names producer Harry Fraud (real name Rory William Quigley) as a defendant, as well as Sony Music Entertainment and several other companies involved in French’s song. Mannis-Gardner is not named as a defendant in the lawsuit and is not accused of any wrongdoing.

French Montana and his team are yet to respond.