Pastor Sues Kanye West Over Sermon Used on ‘Donda’ Track “Come to Life”
Written by SOURCE on May 4, 2022
Kanye West is facing a lawsuit after a Texas pastor sued the rapper for sampling his sermon on “Come to Life,” a standout track from Ye’s 2021 album Donda.
TMZ reports Bishop David Paul Moten has filed a lawsuit against Kanye, UMG Recordings, Def Jam Recordings, and G.O.O.D Music, claiming that Ye sampled audio of his sermon without getting permission. Moten is seeking damages from all four parties.
According to Moten, Kanye used his sermon for “ 70 seconds of the 5-minute, 10-second track … which is more than 20 percent of the song,” according to TMZ. The Bishop slammed Ye and the music industry for “willfully and egregiously sampling sound recordings of others without consent or permission.”
Released last August, Donda gave Ye his tenth debut atop Billboard 200 by bringing in 309,000 equivalent album units in its first week out. Donda’s performed better commercially than Ye’s previous albums, Jesus Is King and Ye, with those two project moving 264,000 and 208,000 album equivalent units, respectively.
Donda also scored over 60 million streams in the U.S. on Apple Music in the first 24 hours of its release, breaking a then-2021 record for the platform.
Kanye followed Donda up in November with the deluxe version of the project, which featured additional tracks like “Life of the Party” with André 3000, “Remote Control pt. 2” with Young Thug and Kid Cudi, another version of “Keep My Spirit Alive,” and more.
In February, Kanye debuted his 11th studio album Donda 2 in Miami, before dropping the project via his Stem Player.
