Dhee on Enjoy Enjaami controversy: I have always made sure I give credits to Arivu

Enjoy Enjaami, a peppy song by rapper-lyricist Arivu and singer Dhee was released last year on YouTube. Titled Dhee ft. Arivu - Enjoy Enjaami, the song went on to become a global sensation. The song is considered as voice of the oppressed communities. During the recent inaugural of the International Chess Olympiad in Chennai, the song was performed by Dhee. But, what drew more attention was the absence of Arivu and his oppari portions were rendered by Kidakuzhi Mariyammal.

Arivu later put out a post in which he called out the appropriation of his work and stated that the song was written, composer, sung and performed by him. He wrote, "I “Composed” ,”Written” ,”sung”& “Performed” Enjoy Enjaami. Nobody gave me a Tune, Melody or a Single word to write this one. Spent almost 6 months of sleepless and stressful nights and days for everything it is right now (sic)."

Later, composer Santhosh Narayanan (stepfather of Dhee), put out a two-page statement and wrote," “In December 2020, Dhee came up with an idea of a song that glorified our roots and celebrated nature. I then composed, arranged, programmed, recorded and co-sang Enjoy Enjaami,” he said in the statement.

Now, Dhee, too has responded to the controversy with a long statement. “The event organisers approached Arivu and me to perform for the event, but as he was not available and in the US, we played his voice track. He was spoken about at the event for his words and his performance of Enjoy Enjaami.”

This is not the first time that Dhee has been criticised for stealing the spotlight from Arivu. In 2021, when Rolling Stone India featured singer Dhee alongside rapper Shan Vincent de Paul for Enjoy Enjaami and Neeye Oli, Arivu was not included on the magazine cover. On the Rolling Stone Magazine controversy, Dhee said, "The Rolling stone India cover from last year was based around Shan and I's upcoming individual albums and the main reason as to why we're in this particular cover together. It was neither about Enjoy Enjaami or Neeye oli. The song names weren't mentioned on the cover too that we shared. That particular cover story was about our upcoming albums and Maajja as a platform. What I was told was that there was a rollout plan where Rollingstone was going to publish cover stories and articles on Arivu, Santhosh Narayanan, and all maajja artists. This was also announced as a tweet by Rollingstone before our cover was published and I was happy to see that it was."

She added, "I have always made sure I give credits to Arivu as the writer/singer and Santhosh Narayanan as the producer/composer at every point. I have proudly spoken about them, specifically Arivu, every chance I got. At no point have I diminished or downplayed both of their importance in Enjoy Enjaami. I've only ever wanted to celebrate, and highlight their work and I've been doing that at every step and stage. I don't have any control over the way our work is being shared and promoted by external sources."