KanYe West hit with $500,000 lawsuit over sample

AllHipHop is reporting that rap star and producer Kanye West has been hit with a $500,000 (£312,200) lawsuit over a sample contained in the 2006 version of "Girls, Girls, Girls (Remix)".

The suit was filed by Robert Poindexter, a member of American vocal group The Persuaders who enjoyed a moderate level of success in the 1970s, and alleged that the version of the song appearing on West’s mixtape The Freshman Adjustment 2 illegally sampled the group’s 1972 song "Trying Girls Out".

The complaint says West “willfully infringed the copyright for private and financial gain by selling and distributing an untold amount of physical and digital copies” of the song and is “apparently earning millions of dollars by using the illegal version as an [sic] significant instrument … to commercially advertise and sell” other products.

Poindexter alleges that West knew the version of the sample used on the mixtape was illegal because he used an authorized version five years prior on Jay-Z‘s seminal sixth album, The Blueprint, for which Poindexter received a platinum plaque. The “Girls, Girls, Girls (Remix)” appeared on the album as an unlisted bonus song.

Poindexter’s claim says that West’s failure to list him in the mixtape’s credits deprived him of recognition “that could have led to my earning an untold amount of dollars in the entertainment industry and general marketplace,” which he feels justifies the damages he seeks along with “any other relief the court finds proper.”

Earlier this month, West and Jay-Z settled a similar suit with blues singer Syl Johnson over a sample appearing in “The Joy” from the duo’s platinum-selling joint album Watch The Throne. Poindexter claims West has “refused to even discuss” an out-of-court settlement in this case, despite his offer to reach one.

View Poindexter’s entire complaint at AHH.

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