Wruh wroh! It appears Kanye West and a number of high profile record
labels are the subject of a new copyright lawsuit, centering around the use of a 1974 sample below - ‘Bumpin’ Bus Stop’ by music group Thunder & Lightning.
Trena Steward and Lorenzo Pryor, who are the owners of the copyright for the song and the children of the late David Pryor, a founding member of Thunder & Lightning who passed away from various health conditions back in 2006 are suing for millions of dollars in damages, claiming Kanye illegally used a portion of the tune in his hit single “Gold Digger.” According to the lawsuit, Kanye 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.”
Other record label’s named in the lawsuit include: 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.
Checkout a few of the tracks that have made use of the sample below or head over to Who Sampled? to see a list of all the guilty peeps.
