Kanye West Sued Over 'Donda 2' Sample

The album's "Flowers" features a prominent piece of Marshall Jefferson's house classic "Move Your Body"

Photo: Netflix

BY Calum SlingerlandPublished Jun 30, 2022

Despite its clearly unfinished nature and exclusivity to a $200 piece of tech, Kanye West's Donda 2 has managed to land the artist in legal trouble over a sample allegedly used without permission.

Reuters reports that West was sued yesterday by Ultra International Music Publishing LLC, who claim that album track "Flowers" includes a sample from Marshall Jefferson's 1986 house classic "Move Your Body."

The specific sample is a snippet of Jefferson's original vocal that hears him proclaim, "set me free." On West's "Flowers," the sample is deployed upwards of 20 times. You can hear the line from "Move Your Body" in the player below.

Per Reuters, the lawsuit states that West and representatives acknowledged that "Flowers" sampled "Move Your Body" without permission when speaking with Jefferson, a house music pioneer from West's hometown of Chicago. The suit goes on to state those talks did not end with West acquiring a license to use the sample.

"West advocates for artists' rights with one hand, yet has no shame in taking away rights from another artist with the other," the lawsuit reads in part [via Reuters].

Not unlike its sequel, West's much more complete Donda also led to sample-related legal action. In May, Texas pastor David Paul Moten sued West for allegedly sampling one of his sermons without permission on album track "Come to Life."

Read Exclaim!'s review of Donda 2. Recently, West produced a handful of tracks on Pusha-T's latest studio effort, It's Almost Dry.

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