Kanye West ‘Refused to Compensate’ Producer, Lawsuit Claims

Kanye West is facing another lawsuit accusing him of mistreating a fellow musician.  

A freelance producer, suing as a John Doe, claims in the new lawsuit that West, now known as Ye, hired him on “an emergency basis” to help finish the album Vultures 2, then failed to pay him for that work or for later contributions to tracks on Bully.

The plaintiff says he responded to an “urgent request” for help from Ye and his Yeezy label, but “despite nearly two years of demands, defendants have refused to compensate plaintiff for plaintiff’s 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.”

According to the lawsuit obtained by Rolling Stone, Ye hired the producer on Aug. 1, 2024, just two days before Vultures 2 was released. The producer says he performed extensive vocal production services “under extreme time pressure,” 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 Vultures 2 include his contributions.

The producer says he started working on Bully in October 2024. He alleges he created more AI vocal production and even wrote with other artists for two tracks that were commercially released.

The lawsuit alleges Ye and Yeezy acknowledged the producer’s work and said they were updating streaming platforms to reflect his contributions. The defendants later offered the plaintiff “a master buyout,” the complaint filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court claims.

The lawsuit asserts claims for breach of contract, unjust enrichment, and violations of state and local laws protecting freelance workers, as well as California’s Unfair Competition Law.

The 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.

The lawsuit isn’t the first to accuse Ye of mistreating a fellow musician. In May, he lost a copyright trial involving an uncleared sample used in “Hurricane,” 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 Donda listening event.

He has been sued for copyright infringement more than a dozen times and also faced a crush of lawsuits from ex-staffers in the wake of his October 2022 social media tirade in which he tweeted his now-infamous plan to “go death con 3 ON JEWISH PEOPLE.”

Last month, he reached a settlement with his former assistant, Lauren Pisciotta, who accused the artist of sexual assault, sex trafficking, and wrongful termination. 

A spokesman for Ye did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday. When he testified at the recent trial over “Hurricane,” Ye told the jury he considered himself “very generous” with collaborators. “I pride myself when people [are] getting what they deserve,” he testified.