“Snubbed” musicians seek $500k from Kanye West in ‘Hurricane’ copyright infringement trial

A group of “snubbed” musicians are seeking over $500,000 in a copyright infringement lawsuit against Kanye West over the song ‘Hurricane’.

The song went on to be released on Ye’s 2021 album ‘Donda’, but the suit relates to an earlier version of the track that was performed live at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia in July 2021.

The performance allegedly incorporated a sample from ‘MSD PT2’, a one-minute instrumental created by Khalil Abdul Rahman, Sam Barsh, Dan Seeff and Josh Mease. They have filed a suit against Ye that is now being heard by a federal jury in Los Angeles.

The musicians claim that the recording was shared with Ye’s team during preliminary discussions, and they say there was an expectation that they would be “compensated fairly” for any commercial use.

The sample did not make the final album version, but they claim that the public performance itself counts as infringement. Irene Lee, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said an expert analysis found that the performance generated $5.5million (£4.06million) for Ye through ticket sales, merchandise, a streaming deal with Apple, and a deal with Gap for the jacket Ye wore on stage during the show.

Ye’s lawyer Eduardo Martorell said the rapper’s fame and accomplishments drove those revenue drivers, “not a one-minute and one-second instrumental”, and he told the jury: “We don’t think we should be here. This lawsuit should never have been filed. The artists led my client to believe he had permission to use their music every step of the way.”

Ye himself is expected to testify in the trial, which began on Monday (May 4) and is projected to last for one week.

The final version of ‘Hurricane’ released on ‘Donda’ featured The Weeknd and Lil Baby, and featured additional vocals from the Sunday Service Choir and KayCyy. It went on to win Best Melodic Rap Performance at the 2022 Grammys.

NME reviewed ’Donda’ on its release in 2021, awarding it three stars and writing: “While ‘DONDA’ certainly isn’t a rushed job, it could have benefitted from West spending a little less time on it and learning when to let things go. Nobody needs all 27 of these tracks, but dig deep into its contents and you’ll find enough gems to make his 10th album worth your time.”

Ye released new album ’Bully’ in March and has attempted to launch a world tour, but many shows have been cancelled – in the UK, Switzerland, Poland and France – due to the rapper’s past anti-Semitic remarks.