A New York label is suing Kanye West, claiming the Grammy-winning rapper illegally used portions of a 1969 song by New Orleans legend Eddie Bo on his No. 1 2010 album "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy," according to The Hollywood Reporter.
In its complaint, TufAmerica says two tracks on "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" -- "Who Will Survive in America?" and "Lost in the World" -- include a bit of "Hook and Sling, Part 1" by Eddie Bo, which TufAmerica says it bought the rights to more than 15 years ago.
TufAmerica claims West's label Roc-A-Fella paid a license fee of $62,500, but "failed and refused to enter into written license agreements that accounted for their multiple other uses of ['Hook and Sling']." The label is seeking undisclosed damages for copyright infringement.
In 2010, Kanye West was sued by musician Vincent Peters over a copyright dispute regarding similarities between West's "Stronger" and a song Peters had sent West's business associate in 2006. West's legal counsel referenced the works of philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, whose maxim "that which does not kill us makes us stronger" is quoted in the song, and the court ruled in the rappers' favor.
TufAmerica is the same label that filed a copyright-infringement lawsuit against the Beastie Boys earlier this year, the day before band member Adam Yauch died of cancer. That lawsuit claimed the Beasties' 1980s albums "License to Ill" and "Paul's Boutiquet" illicitly sampled from two Trouble Funk songs TufAmerica administers.
