Published
Sat, Jul 2, 2022, 09:00
- The lawsuit accuses the rap giant of using 22 samples on this year's track "Flowers."
Marshall Jefferson is suing Kanye West for allegedly sampling 1986 house anthem "Move Your Body" without permission, the BBC reports.
The Chicago house legend and his publisher, Ultra International Music Publishing, filed a complaint at New York's US District Court on Wednesday, June 29th. The suit alleges that West, AKA Ye, sampled "Move Your Body" without permission 22 times in his track "Flowers," which featured on his most recent album, Donda 2.
"I've been sampled thousands of times," Jefferson told the BBC. "There is a right way and a wrong way to go about it. Getting done by another artist, a Black artist, a fellow Chicagoan, without acknowledgment is disappointing."
According to the lawsuit, West's representatives have previously admitted to sampling "Move Your Body" without a license in discussions with Jefferson and his legal team. But West never took out a license, meaning Jefferson was never paid.
"West advocates for artists' rights with one hand, yet has no shame in taking away rights from another artist with the other," the lawsuit said.
Jefferson and Ultra International Music Publishing are seeking profits and damages to be determined at trial or maximum statutory damages of $150,000 per infringement.
Kano Computing Ltd, the UK company that developed the Stem Player through which West exclusively released Donda 2, is also named in the lawsuit. But West's label, Universal Music Group (UMG), isn't. West or Kano Computing Ltd haven't responded to Resident Advisor's requests for comment.
This isn't the first time West's sampling practices have been the subject of a lawsuit. In March 2022, Declan Colgan Music Ltd, which owns the rights to King Crimson's "21st Century Schizoid Man," filed a suit against UMG over West's alleged unlicensed use of the track in his 2010 single "Power."
RA has approached Jefferson for comment.
Correction, July 3rd: A previous version of this article said Universal Music Group was named in the lawsuit. That was incorrect.