VICTORIA, Texas — A lawsuit has been filed in Dallas by a Texas bishop against the artist formerly known as Kanye West in addition to three record labels, WFAA has confirmed.
Bishop David Moten of The Joy of the Lord Worship Center in Victoria, Texas, not far from Corpus Christi is suing Ye, Def Jam Recordings, Universal Music Group and G.O.O.D. Music.
According to the documents, the bishop is accusing the musician for sampling one of his sermons without his permission. Bishop Moten says Ye used it for his song "Come to Life" from his latest 2021 album, "Donda."
When you listen to the song, it starts with a man thanking God multiple times as other people give their praise. You can also hear a woman repeatedly shout "hallelujah" in the first two minutes.
The entire song is a little over five minutes long. The bishop says about one minute of "Come to Life" is directly from one of his sermons. His lawsuit says it also seems to run on a loop in the song's chorus and pre-chorus.
The document also says this isn't the first time the defendants (Ye, Def Jam, UMG, G.O.O.D.) used recordings as samples without telling the people in the recordings.
"Defendants willfully and without the permission or consent of the Plantiff [Bishop Moten] extensively sampled portions of the Sermon," the lawsuit reads. "Over the span of several years, Defendants have demonstrated an alarming pattern and practice willfully and egregiously sampling sound recording of others without consent or permission.
Here is a look at the lawsuit:
