Kanye West Forgoes Responding to Boogie Down Productions Lawsuit
Kanye West has defaulted in a lawsuit over Boogie Down Productions single "South Bronx" from their 1987 album Criminal Minded.
No response from Kanye West. AllHipHop has reported that the 45-year-old creative multi-hyphenate has not responded to Boogie Down Productions' lawsuit over the use of their 1987 single "South Bronx." According to court documents, the Clerk of Court for the Southern District of New York issued an entry of default in the case on Wednesday (March 8). Phase One Network, which owns the copyright for "South Bronx," requested an entry of default in January.
“I, Ruby J. Krajick, Clerk of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, do hereby certify that this action was commenced on November 7, 2022 with the filing of a summons and complaint, a copy of the summons and complaint was served on defendant Ye f/k/a Kanye West d/b/a ‘Yeezy Tech’ (‘Defendant Ye’) by delivery of a true copy of each to Defendant Ye, and proof was therefore filed on January 26, 2023,” the filing read. “I further certify that the docket entries indicate that Defendant Ye has failed to plead or otherwise defend the action. The default of Defendant Ye is hereby noted.”
In 2022, Phase One sued Ye, Kano Computing, Def Jam Recordings and related parties for copyright infringement, claiming that the Donda 2 rapper hadn't cleared the “South Bronx” sample used in his 2021 song “Life of the Party.”
At the time, Ye allegedly released "Life of the Party" on the Stem Player, unable to secure a licensing agreement. A clearance agent sent a request to Phase One in July 2021, retracting it in November of the same year.
“The West parties retracted the licensing request despite having already incorporated ‘South Bronx’ into the Infringing Track, distributed the infringing track through the Stem Player and its associated website, and incorporated the Infringing Track into the Infringing Advertisements,” Phase One’s attorneys wrote in the lawsuit.