Music

Hungarian songwriter refuses $10,000 from Kanye West, sues for millions

by Jeremy Mersereau

If you received a $10k cheque from the world’s most feared, ruthless ego, would you cash it in or would you hold true to your principles and sue said ego for the millions you feel you’re owed? Really, I’m asking: Gwyneth Paltrow just mailed me a paltry 10k for my raspberry torte recipe she used in one her dumb bougie cookbooks and she thinks I’m just gonna take it?! Not this time, Gwyneth.

Anyway, that same moral dilemma was also faced by Hungarian songwriter Gábor Presser, who was mailed a cheque for $10,000 from Kanye West’s camp. The money was ostensibly some kind of licensing fee for a section of his song “Gyöngyhajú lány” (English: “Pearl-haired girl”) that West sampled on “New Slaves,” but Presser claims that no agreement was ever reached and that West sampled his song without permission. Presser is now suing West for $2.5 million over his alleged misuse of the sample.

The lawsuit was filed in Manhattan earlier this week, and alleges that approximately one-third of 2013’s “New Slaves” makes improper use of a section of “Gyöngyhajú lány,” a song Presser wrote for the Hungarian outfit Omega back in 1969. The lawsuit also claims that “Gyöngyhajú lány” is one of Hungary’s most beloved pop songs.

West’s camp has yet to comment on the lawsuit, but a mysterious $10k cheque in the mail leaves little doubt the sampling occurred. Other reports indicate that West may have licensed the song through the label that released the Omega track, Hungaroton Records, but if so, Presser was either not informed or not happy with the agreement.

Take a listen to “Gyöngyhajú lány” below (sample occurs at 1:28):

[h/t DigitalMusicNews]