Kanye West is facing one less lawsuit. The rapper has reached a settlement in a copyright lawsuit regarding his use of an uncleared sample from Boogie Down Productions’ catalog in his song, “Life of the Party.” Both sides will pay their own legal bills, but no further details were made public. Phase One Network, which owns Boogie Down’s copyrights, originally filed the lawsuit in 2022, alleging Ye used the 1986 song “South Bronx.”
Phase One’s lawyers stated, “The communications confirmed that ‘South Bronx’ had been incorporated into the infringing track even though West had yet to obtain such license. Despite the fact that final clearance for use of ‘South Bronx’ in the infringing track was never authorized, the infringing track was nevertheless reproduced, sold, distributed, publicly performed, and exploited.”
West’s team argued that KRS-One had previously promised other artists they “will not get sued” for sampling Boogie Down’s catalog, citing comments made during the 2006 documentary, The Art of 16 Bars. KRS-One said, “I give to all MCs my entire catalog.” However, Phase One countered that Boogie Down didn’t own their own recordings, making KRS-One’s promise irrelevant. “Movants cite to no law to support such a theory. KRS-One also could not have placed the Work in the public domain as he did not own it,” they wrote.
Despite settling with West and the Yeezy brand, Phase One will continue to take legal action against the company behind the Stem Player platform West used to release Donda. West is still facing numerous lawsuits regarding uncleared samples in his music. Stay tuned for further updates on Kanye West and his legal battles on HotNewHipHop.
