Cardi B scored another court victory Monday when a federal judge in Texas dismissed the copyright infringement lawsuit claiming her hit song “Enough (Miami)” stole beats from the 2021 song “Greasy Frybread” from the acclaimed FX series Reservation Dogs.
Plaintiffs Joshua Fraustro and Miguel Aguilar, known professionally as the production duo Kemika1956, sued the Grammy-winning rapper nearly two years ago, claiming she violated the copyright for “Greasy Frybread” by “reproducing, distributing, and publicly performing the infringing work” without permission. They later amended their complaint to add more claims, including defamation.
Cardi challenged the lawsuit on several grounds, including her argument that “Greasy Frybread” was not protected by copyright. Her lawyers said the plaintiffs initially brought a federal copyright infringement claim but later shifted to Texas law. “It appears this was done because [plaintiffs] belatedly realized – after [Cardi’s] counsel brought it to their attention – that they lacked a copyright registration,” Cardi’s lawyers wrote in a dismissal motion filed in September 2024. The plaintiffs later secured a copyright for “Greasy Frybread” with an effective registration date of Oct. 31, 2025.
In a ruling on Monday, U.S. District Judge Fernando Rodriguez found that the state court claims brought by Fraustro and Aguilar were too weak to proceed. The plaintiffs had argued that Cardi B, born Belcalis Almánzar, performed multiple shows in Texas, making it appropriate to apply Texas law. But the judge concluded those appearances were insufficient and said allowing another amendment to the complaint would be “futile.”
“Plaintiffs do not demonstrate that Almanzar targeted Texas for concert performances, rather than simply including Texas venues within a broader concert tour in numerous states,” the judge wrote. “Almanzar’s performances in Texas are not distinct from her performances in [various] other states, rendering the concerts in Texas insufficient to establish general jurisdiction.” He added that even if personal jurisdiction could be established, the plaintiffs’ claims would still be dismissed for failure to state a valid cause of action.
“Obviously, we are very pleased with today’s order and appreciate the court’s careful consideration of the issues,” Cardi’s longtime laywer, Lisa F. Moore, said in a statement sent to Rolling Stone. (Robert R. Flores, the lawyer for the plaintiffs, did not respond to a request for comment.)
In 2021, Kemika1956 released the song “Greasy Frybread” with Sten Joddi, the actor who played rapper Punkin’ Lusty on Reservation Dogs. The track has notched more than 920,000 views since it was uploaded on FX Networks’ YouTube four years ago.
Cardi’s “Enough (Miami),” her first single as a solo artist and sans guests since 2021, has 78 million views on YouTube and reached Number Nine on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was also named one of Rolling Stone’s Best Songs of 2024.
Cardi’s latest court win comes after a long line of legal victories. Last September, a jury rejected an assault lawsuit brought by a security guard against the “WAP” rapper, taking only an hour to unanimously side with Cardi. She also previously scored a $4 million jury verdict against celebrity gossip vlogger Latasha Kebe, professionally known as Tasha K.
Meanwhile, a New York judge sided with Cardi and dismissed a libel lawsuit that named her as a defendant alongside her sister, Hennessy. Cardi further won at a California-based federal trial where she was accused of using a portion of a man’s back tattoo on the cover of her early mixtape Gangsta Bitch Music Vol. 1.
