Back in March, it was reported that Ronald Oslin Bobb-Semple filed a lawsuit against Kids See Ghost, the hip-hop duo comprised of Kanye West and Kid Cudi. The suit alleged that the pair sampled him on the song "Freeee (Ghost Town, Pt. 2)" without his permission.
In response to the accusation, 'Ye is demanding the case to be thrown out of court. Court docs obtained by The Blast reveal the rapper believes his actions were "innocent" and that all charges regarding the song should be dismissed.
The suit references a 2002 Bobb-Semple recording titled "The Spirit of Marcus Garvey (Garvey Speaks to An All-Black Audience)." He claims Kids See Ghosts "exploited the actual voice, words and performance of Bobb-Semple, without authorization," and is seeking proper compensation.
While Ye acknowledges he never received permission to sample the Bobbe-Semple audio for the song, he believes he didn't need authorization to use it. His argument is that the work is considered fair use, which is defined as a "legal doctrine that promotes freedom of expression by permitting the unlicensed use of copyright-protected works in certain circumstances."
Though it is yet to be determined if his argument will hold up in court, it's not as if West is opposed to the idea of giving credit where credit is due (at least for the Ghosts album). He reached out to the estate of the late Louis Prima to clear a sample for the song "4th Dimension."
Recently, Kanye appeared on David Letterman's Netflix show My Next Guest Needs No Introduction, where he talked about several topics including mental health, his stance on the media, and his relationship with JAY-Z.
