Case Dismissed! Judge Trashes Lawsuit Accusing Kanye & Solange Of Ripping Off Songs
April 26 2018, Published 5:56 p.m. ET
The lawsuit claiming Kanye West and Solange Knowles ripped off a song from soul artist Leroy Mitchell has been dismissed, according to court documents exclusively obtained by RadarOnline.com.
Earlier this year, Mitchell, also known as Prince Phillip Mitchell, sued the singer-songwriters claiming their songs were a ripoff of his 1970 song "If We Can't Be Lovers" in 1970. He claimed Knowles' song, "F**k the Industry" and West's song, "Everything I Am" both sample his work without his permission.
Aside from damages, and despite being paid roughly 200k in writing royalties for both songs, Mitchell demanded both artists stop performing the respective tracks and pull them from the radio.
But in documents filed in Kentucky, the judge threw out the entire case, and declared: “The Complaint is dismissed in its entirety."
What's more — in emails from Kanye’s side, obtained exclusively by Radar, the rapper's team essentially told Mitchell to take a hike and that the original agreement for royalties was already very generous. One email says: "As I told Mr. Mitchell, this is a gift from a higher power for something that was done over 25 years ago."
The case was dismissed by a judge last week.
We pay for juicy info! Do you have a story for RadarOnline.com? Email us at tips@radaronline.com, or call us at 800-344-9598 any time, day or night.