Kanye West Sued Over Sampling 'Gold Digger' Lyrics Without Copyright Authorization [VIDEO]
The kids of late musician David Pryor filed a copyright lawsuit against rapper Kanye West claiming his song Gold Digger uses an unauthorized sample of their father saying "Get down," from his song Bumpin' Bus Stop.
Trena Steward and Lorenzo Pryor claim that 35-year-old West used a line in his song taken from a track Pryor recorded with his band Thunder and Lightning back in 1974, according to a report by Entertainment Weekly. The two are alleging that listeners can spot Pryor singing "Get down" three times, echoing West singing, "Get down girl, go head, get down."
The plaintiffs are asking a judge to block future sales of Gold Digger and want "millions of dollars" in damages, according to The Huffington Post.
The lawsuit claims West and various labels engaged in a 15-year "illegal copyright infringement scheme and criminal enterprise involving the unauthorized, willful sampling of plaintiffs original copyrighted music on a massive scale," AllHipHop reported.
Other record labels included in the lawsuit include the following: Roc-a-Fella Records, Bad Boy Records, Stones Throw Records, Bomb Hip-Hop Records, Autumn Games, Activision, Caroline Distribution and The Island Def Jam Music Group.
West has been accused of illegally using samples in his music before. In September of 2012, New York label TufAmerica filed a suit against the rapper claiming he illegally used parts of a 1969 song by New Orleans legend Eddie Bo on his 2010 album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.
