A Texas-based pastor has filed a lawsuit against American rapper and record producer, Ye, commonly known as Kanye West, for taking one of his sermons and using it in a rap tune.
The cleric, Bishop David Paul Moten said the hip-hop legend used his sermon without his permission in the song Come to Life, housed by the Grammy-nominated album, Donda.
As the song Come to Life begins, Moten can be heard saying, “My soul cries out, ‘Hallelujah’, and I thank God for saving me. I, I thank God,” before Ye’s own vocals come in.
In the lawsuit, The 57-year-old bishop claims that 70 seconds of the over five-minute song contains his sermon, totalling more than 20 per cent of the track.
He added that he did not authorize portions of his sermon to be used in the 2021 song.
Moten is also suing Ye’s record label, UMG Recordings, and subsidiaries, Def Jam Recordings and G.O.O.D Music.
According to him, Ye and his record labels have a pattern of “willfully and egregiously sampling sound recordings of others without consent or permission.”
Moten is the bishop at Joy of Lord Worship Center, an Apostolic Pentecostal church in Victoria, Texas
