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Yeezus-Cover-Art
Yeezus-Cover-Art

Kanye West Settles Lawsuit With "Bound 2" Sampled Singer

Lenny Kravitz, Grace Jones, Lauryn Hill, Lion Babe, Thundercat, SZA & More Rock The Afropunk Festival 2015 in Brooklyn, NY.

For many, "Bound 2" was the saving grace of Kanye West's aggressive, borderline-acid-rap LP Yeezus. Wrought of a looped and pitch-shifted soul sample, the single peaked at #12 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts and was a moment of respite after meaner tracks like "Blood on the Leaves" and, of course, "I'm In It."

But that certain soulful something about "Bound 2" has also landed West in a bit of trouble. The song samples "Bound," a 1971 song recorded by Ponderosa Twins Plus One. And the hook--the main line serves as the Yeezus track's tender core? That was originally sung for the Ponderosa Twins by Ricky Spicer when he was but a young boy of 12. Spicer claims that he was sampled by West without consent or compensation, and Billboard reports that the former child soul star filed a lawsuit against West and Roc-A-Fella Records (along with both Universal Music Group and Island Def Jam) on December 23, 2013. As of May 11 of this year, however, the suit has been discontinued. To put it plainly: Kanye settled.

The amount which West and his label(s) paid Spicer, and any subsequent terms of their agreement, have yet to be released, but one has to hope that West did the right thing and paid Spicer his due.