Kanye West, Solange, Wiz Khalifa sued for copyright infringement

Kanye West, Solange (Knowles) and Wiz Khalifa are being sued for copyright infringement in separate cases.

In the case of West and Solange, they are being hit for sampling the same track, Leroy ‘Prince Phillip’ Mitchell’s ’If We Can’t Be Lovers’.

The 73-year old Louisville native is already credited as a co-writer on West’s ‘Everything I Am’ from his 2007 album Graduation, and Solange’s ‘Fuck The Industry’ off the reissue of 2008’s Sol-Angel And The Hadly St. Dreams.

Nevertheless Mitchell claims that he was never asked officially if his song could be sampled – and that he now wants to be paid the equivalent of the royalties his own song would have been generated if it hadn’t been so heavily sampled elsewhere.

It is estimated that Mitchell could make up to $300,000 if he the court case goes his way.

He wants a judge to agree to his request that the stars not perform the songs live, and they not be allowed to be played on radio.

Neither of the allegedly infringing songs are well known, and it’s doubtful they are performed live or get much radio airplay.

Wiz Khalifa’s legal beef is with Georgia rapper Cymple Man (Dustin Bennett).

He is accused of appropriating Cymple Man’s 2010 song ‘Most Of Us’ for his own song of the same name.

Cymple Man claims that the two artists met by chance in 2012 at the Salt Lake City International Airport, and he gave Khalifa some of his demos including the song in question.

He says that the two songs have the same phrasing when using the title, and have a similar lyrical structure.

The Georgia rapper had tried to contact Khalifa about getting a co-writing credit.