Ye Faces Jury Trial Over 'Donda' Tracks 'Hurricane' and 'Moon' Copyright Claims
A Los Angeles federal court will convene a jury to hear copyright claims regarding early versions of Ye's hit songs "Hurricane" and "Moon" from his 2021 album Donda.
Matthias Nareyek/Getty Images
Ye (formerly Kanye West) has faced numerous lawsuits throughout his career for allegedly using unlicensed samples and interpolations. Now, one of these lawsuits is heading to trial.
A jury is convening in a Los Angeles federal court to hear a copyright case concerning early versions of the Ye songs “Hurricane” and “Moon.” Both songs achieved top 20 status on the Billboard Hot 100 from his Billboard 200 No. 1 album Donda in 2021. Notably, “Hurricane” also earned a Grammy Award for best melodic rap performance.
The plaintiff, Artist Revenue Advocates LLC, is led by music producers DJ Khalil (Khalil Abdul-Rahman), Sam Barsh, Dan Seeff, and Josh Mease. They claim that Ye interpolated their 2018 instrumental track “MSD PT2” on “Hurricane” and “Moon” without permission or proper royalties. They initially sued Ye in 2024.
However, a judge dismissed the bulk of the lawsuit in February, determining that Artist Revenue Advocates only owns the “MSD PT2” master recording rights, not the composition rights. Therefore, they can only sue over a sample, not an interpolation.
While the final versions of “Hurricane” and “Moon” don’t directly sample "MSD PT2," Artist Revenue Advocates claims that early demos of both songs did contain such samples. The trial will focus on whether Ye profited from playing these early demos at listening parties before Donda's official release.
Ye's defense is that his team attempted to clear the “MSD PT2” sample, but the plaintiffs intentionally stalled the process, refusing industry-standard splits to “maximize their negotiating power” and claim infringement after release. Ye also alleges that the plaintiffs have already collected some royalties from various publishers.
This isn't Ye's first copyright rodeo. He was first sued in 2008 for allegedly failing to clear a sample on his second studio album, Late Registration, and at least 16 similar lawsuits have followed.
Historically, Ye has opted to settle these cases rather than go to trial. This time, his team is defending against Artist Revenue Advocates’ claims before a jury.
The trial is expected to last about a week and include testimony from Ye himself, who testified in another trial in Los Angeles two months ago concerning construction work at his Malibu mansion.
Other potential witnesses include Ye’s chief of staff, Milo Yiannopoulos, and Donda producers Nascent, 88-Keys, BoogzdaBeast, and Digital Nas. Representatives from Apple Music may also testify about the platform’s livestreams of Donda listening sessions in 2021, along with reps from Balenciaga and Gap to discuss whether these sessions boosted sales of Yeezy-branded merchandise.
The trial occurs during a complex time in Ye's career. In January, he apologized for antisemitic comments in a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal. He then sold out two shows at SoFi Stadium and debuted his latest album Bully at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 last month. However, the U.K. government denied him a visa to perform at this summer’s Wireless Festival, leading to the cancellation of that event and other upcoming gigs.
Reps for Ye and Artist Revenue Advocates have not commented.
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