It has been a tale of 3P’s, as the recent drama between Pia Mia, Phyno and eventually Pulse NG, continues to unfold.

Late last week, Pia Mia, a Guam-American singer, released her newest single “I’m a Fan” featuring Jeremih. The song was released under Interscope Records, its chorus and first verse was a nearly line-by-line copy of a song by Phyno with the same title that was released months earlier.

Listen to the two versions below:

The Nigerian internet went wild, as expected. In trying to get to the bottom of the story, Pulse NG posted a report that sided with Pia Mia. The story alleges that Phyno contacted Reno the Beatmaker, who Pulse NG credits as the producer of Pia’s version, and recorded the original song with him but due to issues regarding ‘remuneration, clearances and demands’, the song never got released. Pulse went on to allege that Phyno co-opted his producer Benjamz to reconstruct the original beat and cut Reno out, before collaborating with Mr. Eazi and American singer/songwriter Decarlo on the finished product.

If indeed the paperwork between Phyno and the song’s producer wasn’t official, then Pia Mia is free to do as she pleases. But interestingly, in a spectacular series of tweets, a very displeased Phyno disproved Pulse NG’s story: 

And then in an interview with the Beat FM, he went on.

This story has a lot of moving parts. There are still a lot of unknowns but we do know a few things, like the fact that Phyno and Pia Mia employed songwriters – both DeCarlo and Jeremih (and his team) write and sell songs that they may or may not be featured on. Jeremih and Yung Berg (Hitmaka), in particular, have a long history of writing and producing together on songs such as Big Sean’s “Bounce Back”, Chris Brown’s “Party” and Game’s “All Eyez”, and now “I’m a Fan”.

We also know that Nigeria-based producer BenJamz had been credited with producing Phyno’s version, while Yung Berg and another producer Smash David were credited with producing Pia’s version, not Reno. But perhaps most importantly, we know that all 4 actors have belonged to the same songwriter-production team in the past and may still be collaborators right now.

Peep the two tweets below, @_Hitmaka = Yung Berg, @1SmashDavid = Smash David, @iAMDECARLO = Decarlo.

The part of the story that isn’t adding up, however, is why the same camp licensed the same song to two different parties and where BenJamz, comes in. There’s a potential lawsuit waiting to happen, Phyno’s explanation – if it ever comes out – will be vital in clearing up this spiderweb of songwriters and produce, artists and now, the media.

While we wait, Phyno has just released his first single since last year’s top-selling Playmaker album. It’s titled “If to Say” and it was produced by IAMBEATZ, with guitar work from Soularge.

Stream below on Apple Music:

If to say the world na my own oh

I go make you the queen for my throne oh

The rapper plays the role of a lover boy who has literally been roped into a love affair that he’s powerless to get himself out of. The record is heart-warming and softened by an infectious melody that will no doubt make hip-hop purists continue to side-eye the once hardcore MC. “If to Say” continues the Eastern folk/hip-hop sub-genre of sweet Igbo love songs that Phyno and Zoro, to a lesser extent, have been popularizing in recent times.