Kanye West Failed To Respond To Copyright Infringement Lawsuit Accusing Him Of Illegally Sampling Boogie Down Productions Track On ‘Donda’ Album  

Kanye West

Kanye West Failed To Respond To Copyright Infringement Lawsuit Accusing Him Of Illegally Sampling Boogie Down Productions Track On ‘Donda’ Album  

Kanye West’s music has landed him in legal trouble…once again. 

According to reports, the Grammy Award-winning rapper has failed to respond to a lawsuit accusing him of illegally sampling “South Bronx,” a Boogie Down Productions song. A sample of the hip-hop group’s 1986 track was used for Kanye West’s 10th studio album’s “Donda” bonus track  “Life of the Party,” which features André 3000.

Kanye West in Beverly Hills

Phase One Network — the company that owns the copyright for “South Bronx” — is suing Kanye West, Kano Computing, and Def Jam Recordings, for copyright infringement. Reportedly, Phase One alleges that West, 45, never had the sample for “South Bronx” cleared.  The company claims a clearance agent sent a request to them in July 2021 but retracted it four months later. However, West reportedly still used the sample and released the track without permission on his Stem Player. 

On Wednesday (Mar. 8) the Clerk of Court for the Southern District of New York submitted a record of default in the case. The statement read:

“I, Ruby J. Krajick, Clerk of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, do hereby certify that this action was commenced on November 7, 2022 with the filing of a summons and complaint, a copy of the summons and complaint was served on defendant Ye … by delivery of a true copy of each to Defendant Ye, and proof was therefore filed on January 26, 2023.” 

The filing added:

“I further certify that the docket entries indicate that Defendant Ye has failed to plead or otherwise defend the action. The default of Defendant Ye is hereby noted.”

Additionally, Phase One’s attorneys wrote in the filing:

 “The West parties retracted the licensing request despite having already incorporated ‘South Bronx’ into the Infringing Track, distributed the infringing track through the Stem Player and its associated website, and incorporated the Infringing Track into the Infringing Advertisements.”

From the looks of it, the songs on “Donda” has landed West in one too many legal issues. As previously reported, musician Marshall Jefferson’s publisher, Ultra International Music Publishing (UIMP) is claiming that the Yeezy founder confessed to sampling Marshall Jefferson’s 1986 house hit “Move Your Body” on his “Donda 2” track “Flowers” without getting it permitted. However, he reportedly “continue[d] to willfully infringe in blatant disregard of UIMP’s rights of ownership.”

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