Ye is being sued for using an uncleared sample — again — on the DIGITAL DELUXE 4 edition of his and Ty Dolla $ign’s second studio album, VULTURES 2.
The rapper formerly known as Kanye West has been sued for copyright infringement by German singer-songwriter Alice Merton for sampling her song “Blindside” for his track “Gun to My Head” with Ty and featuring Kid Cudi. According to the suit, filed yesterday (March 25) in California federal court and reviewed by Variety, Merton was “understandably shocked and humiliated” after the father of four first previewed the song at a Vultures listening event in Dec. 2023.
Merton claims that West’s team reached out to her publisher, BMG, for permission to use her song. After she refused to clear it, Ye’s team reached back out for an explanation, with BMG telling them that “the artist’s values are contrary to our values” and that Merton was “unwilling to compromise her personal beliefs and wanted not to be associated with Ye in any manner.”
She took particular exception to Ye’s antisemitic rhetoric, as she has, “close ties to the holocaust through Jewish family members who survived its horrors” and ultimately refused to clear the sample due to his “antisemitic, racist remarks.”
Los Angeles, CA – February 2, 2025: Kanye West at the 67th Grammys Awards held at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, CA Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
The suit also claims that Merton was threatened by Ye’s fans when the song didn’t show up on the initial Vultures 2 release, stopping her from touring in the U.S. “for fear of confrontation or potential violence against her.” BMG also says it sent a cease-and-desist to Ye’s team which went ignored, as they added the track to the album’s deluxe edition.
Merton is just the latest artist to sue Ye for using a sample without clearance, with both Ozzy Osbourne and Donna Summer’s estate recently claiming he also used their music without permission.
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