Kanye West Being Sued Over “Gold Digger”

(Dominique Charriau, WireImage)Kanye West rapped about money-hungry women on his 2005 hit single “Gold Digger.”

Now the rapper-producer is being sued for pilfering others on that very song.
Trena Steward and Lorenzo Pryor have filed a civil complaint against West, Roc-A-Fella Records, The Island Def Jam Music Group and others for copyright infringement, among other claims.
Steward and Pryor own a percentage of the Thunder & Lightning song “Bumpin’ Bus Stop,” which they allege West sampled on “Gold Digger.”

         

The issue at hand is the use of the vocal performance of the lyrics “Get Down,” “Step Up,” “It’s the Hottest Thing” and “Step Up Front,” which were written and performed by David Pryor on “Bumpin’ Bus Stop.”
Steward and Pryor, David Pryor’s daughter and son, are claiming that West and the other defendants “have engaged in the repeated willful infringement of Plaintiffs’ copyrighted music on a massive scale by sampling Plaintiffs’ copyrighted music,” according to a claim filed in California and signed April 4, 2013.
Steward and Pryor are demanding a jury trial and are seeking $150,000 per infringement and attorneys’ fees for West’s alleged infractions.

                                    

According to the lawsuit, “Gold Digger” sold more than 3 million copies in the United States alone and tens of millions of copies worldwide.