{"id":28130,"date":"2026-08-05T04:54:29","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T23:54:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=28130"},"modified":"2026-08-05T04:54:29","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T23:54:29","slug":"kanye-west-refused-to-compensate-producer-lawsuit-claims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=28130","title":{"rendered":"Kanye West \u2018Refused to Compensate\u2019 Producer, Lawsuit Claims"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/t\/kanye-west\/\" id=\"auto-tag_kanye-west\" data-tag=\"kanye-west\">Kanye West<\/a> is facing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-news\/kanye-west-hurricane-copyright-infringement-trial-begins-1235557458\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-news\/kanye-west-hurricane-copyright-infringement-trial-begins-1235557458\/\">another lawsuit<\/a> accusing him of mistreating a fellow musician. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tA freelance producer, suing as a John Doe, claims in the new lawsuit that West, now known as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/t\/ye\/\" id=\"auto-tag_ye\" data-tag=\"ye\">Ye<\/a>, hired him on \u201can emergency basis\u201d to help finish the album <em>Vultures 2,<\/em> then failed to pay him for that work or for later contributions to tracks on <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-news\/kanye-west-bully-album-best-songs-ye-1235538475\/\">Bully<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tThe plaintiff says he responded to an \u201curgent request\u201d for help from Ye and his Yeezy label, but \u201cdespite nearly two years of demands, defendants have refused to compensate plaintiff for plaintiff\u2019s services, have failed to provide any written contracts as required by law, and have failed to credit plaintiff on digital streaming platforms for his creative contributions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tAccording to the lawsuit obtained by <em>Rolling Stone<\/em>, Ye hired the producer on Aug. 1, 2024, just two days before <em>Vultures 2<\/em> was released. The producer says he performed extensive vocal production services \u201cunder extreme time pressure,\u201d creating at least 13 custom AI voice models, more than 400 individual vocal generations, and source material using his own voice. He claims five tracks on <em>Vultures 2<\/em> include his contributions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tThe producer says he started working on <em>Bully<\/em> in October 2024. He alleges he created more AI vocal production and even wrote with other artists for two tracks that were commercially released.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tThe lawsuit alleges Ye and Yeezy acknowledged the producer\u2019s work and said they were updating streaming platforms to reflect his contributions. The defendants later offered the plaintiff \u201ca master buyout,\u201d the complaint filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court claims.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tThe lawsuit asserts claims for breach of contract, unjust enrichment, and violations of state and local laws protecting freelance workers, as well as California\u2019s Unfair Competition Law.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tThe producer is seeking at least $110,000 in compensatory damages for seven commercially released tracks, along with double damages under the Los Angeles Freelance Worker Protections Ordinance.<\/p>\n<section class=\"brands-most-popular \/\/ editors-pick-module lrv-u-margin-tb-2 lrv-u-border-a-2 u-box-shadow-5-5 lrv-u-padding-lr-1 a-span1 u-padding-b-1@tablet u-overflow-hidden\">\n<h2 id=\"section-heading\" class=\"c-heading larva  lrv-u-text-align-center u-border-color-black a-font-theme-primary-xxs lrv-u-color-black lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase u-letter-spacing-0063 lrv-u-padding-t-050 u-padding-b-0375@tablet lrv-u-padding-b-050@mobile-max lrv-u-border-b-2\">\n<p>\t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tThe lawsuit isn\u2019t the first to accuse Ye of mistreating a fellow musician. In May, he <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-news\/kanye-found-liable-hurricane-copyright-infringement-trial-1235561041\/\">lost a copyright trial<\/a> involving an uncleared sample used in \u201cHurricane,\u201d his Grammy-winning song. A jury found that Ye had infringed the copyright by incorporating the unreleased sample into an early version of the song that was played for 40,000 fans at a sold-out <em>Donda<\/em> listening event.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tHe has\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-news\/ye-sued-copyright-infringement-alice-merton-1235303971\/\">been sued for copyright infringement\u00a0<\/a>more\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/lists\/kanye-west-ye-sampling-lawsuits-full-list\/artist-revenue-advocates-v-ye\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">than a dozen times<\/a> and also faced a crush of lawsuits from ex-staffers in the wake of his October 2022 social media tirade in which he\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-features\/kanye-west-antisemitism-backlash-1234617665\/\">tweeted his now-infamous plan<\/a>\u00a0to \u201cgo death con 3 ON JEWISH PEOPLE.\u201d<\/p>\n<section class=\"brands-most-popular \/\/ recirculation-modules trending-in-article lrv-u-margin-tb-2 lrv-u-border-a-2 u-box-shadow-5-5 lrv-u-padding-lr-1 a-span1 u-padding-b-1@tablet u-overflow-hidden\">\n<h2 id=\"section-heading\" class=\"c-heading larva  lrv-u-text-align-center u-border-color-black a-font-theme-primary-xxs lrv-u-color-black lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase u-letter-spacing-0063 lrv-u-padding-t-050 u-padding-b-0375@tablet lrv-u-padding-b-050@mobile-max lrv-u-border-b-2\">\n<p>\t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tLast month, he <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-news\/kanye-west-settles-sexual-assault-lawsuit-ex-staffer-1235600754\/\">reached a settlement<\/a> with his former assistant, Lauren Pisciotta, who accused the artist of\u00a0sexual assault, sex trafficking, and wrongful termination.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tA spokesman for Ye did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday. When he <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-news\/kanye-testifies-hurricane-song-copyright-trial-1235558924\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-news\/kanye-testifies-hurricane-song-copyright-trial-1235558924\/\">testified at the recent trial <\/a>over \u201cHurricane,\u201d Ye told the jury he considered himself \u201cvery generous\u201d with collaborators. \u201cI pride myself when people [are] getting what they deserve,\u201d he testified.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kanye West is facing another lawsuit accusing him of mistreating a fellow musician. \u00a0 A freelance producer, suing as a John Doe, claims in the new lawsuit that West, now known as Ye, hired him on \u201can emergency basis\u201d to help finish the album Vultures 2, then failed to pay him for that work or&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28131,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/kanye-not-paying-vultures-2.jpg?w=1600&h=900&crop=1","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrity-gossip"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28130"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28130\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/28131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}